


Bolt of Blue (Byler/Byeler)

by willclericbyers



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Bisexual Mike Wheeler, Byeler - Freeform, Gay Will Byers, M/M, Period-Typical Homophobia, Post Season 3, byler, so kind of spoilery for that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-23
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2020-06-26 06:49:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 21,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19762801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/willclericbyers/pseuds/willclericbyers
Summary: After receiving a mixtape from Will for his 15th birthday, Mike can't help but recount some of their memories together as he listens to the songs. By the end of the tape. Mike begins to understand how Will really feels about him.





	1. The Mixtape

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y'all! After finishing Season 3, I had lots of unresolved Byler feelings. After making an angsty Spotify playlist, I couldn't resist writing this. It's my first fic, so please go easy on me lol. I would definitely recommend listening to the playlist while reading (even if the times don't match up exactly) and the playlist can be found here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3m26SMFPougIEfhrqsp3tb and if the link doesn't work when you copy/paste it, you should be able to just search it on Spotify!

August 23rd, 1986

Soft sunlight streamed through the window of Mike Wheeler’s bedroom on the morning of his 15th birthday. Lucky for him, his birthday fell on a Saturday this year, so there was no alarm or nagging mother to wake him up any earlier than he wanted to get up himself.

Even though the school year didn’t start for another week or so, Mike had had to get up early practically every day since he got a job at the newly renovated Starcourt Mall. Even after all that business with the Russians and interdimensional monsters and whatnot, the people of Hawkins still wanted the mall. So over the last year since the incident, huge renovations had been done to the mall.

Steve had managed to talk the managers of Scoops Ahoy into hiring Mike for the summer, which surprised him, because with all the shit Steve had pulled while working at Scoops Ahoy there was no way he should have any pull in who works there after him. But either way, it had worked. Mike had been working at Scoops Ahoy for just under two months now and hoped that he could continue working there part-time as he started his classes.

Honestly, Mike liked the distraction. With both Will and El gone for the past year, it had been rough on him. He was glad to have something to occupy his summer since the party was practically disbanded at this point.

Dustin had gone to that science camp again, which took him away for an entire month, and Lucas had gone with his family to spend most of the summer with some of their extended family on the East Coast. This left Mike feeling really alone the entire summer. Max was the only party member who had also stayed in Hawkins all summer, and as fun as she was, he still wasn’t completely over her causing his and El’s big breakup last summer. Mike almost felt bad about leaving Max to her own devices all summer. After what happened to Billy last summer, Mr. Hargrove had walked out on Max’s mom and her. He knew that she must be lonely too, but couldn’t bring himself to take the initiative to call her first. So he was glad to at least have a job to keep his mind occupied instead of wallowing in his own lonely feelings.

But now as it was nearing the end of August, Mike had become rather excited for his 15th birthday party. Although he knew Will and El weren’t going to come back to Hawkins for something as small as his birthday, Mike was excited to have a chill day with the remaining party members who were all back together in Hawkins, finally! He had hoped to see Will and El for 4th of July this year, but they had had to cancel their trip last minute because Joyce had to cover for someone at work who had a family emergency or something. Mike had been devastated when Will called him that night, and didn’t even end up going to the yearly festival that Hawkins held.

Mike moved slowly as he got out of bed, not fully awake yet. He ambled down the hall into the bathroom, ready to brush his teeth and take a shower to start the day. Once he was finished in there, Mike felt much more awake. He walked back into his bedroom wearing a towel around his waist, and took care in deciding what he would wear for his small party. Fifteen felt like a big age to Mike, and he wanted to find an outfit that showed how grown up he was.

Even after looking through his closet for nearly ten minutes, Mike couldn’t find anything that felt perfect. He compromised on a simple pair of shorts and a t-shirt, along with a short-sleeved button-up over it, figuring that was probably the best he was going to do. As he was getting dressed, he heard his mother calling up the stairs for him.

“Mike, come downstairs and eat some breakfast!”

“Coming!”

He rushed down the stairs and into the kitchen. His mother was standing at the stove, flipping a pancake in a pan. She turned around and gestured for him to come toward her.

“Happy birthday, sweetie! Fifteen is a big year!” Mrs. Wheeler said as she hugged him.

“Thanks, mom, I know.”

“Are you excited for your party?”

“Not sure having three of my friends over counts as a party, but sure.”

“Of course that counts!” she smiled warmly, “Even one friend can count if that’s what you want.”

“It just sucks Will and El can’t be here,” Mike couldn’t help but frown.

“I know honey, I’m sorry. But Joyce said they would be coming for Christmas.”

“That _ages_ from now, Mom!”

“It’ll be here before you know it, I promise. Here,” Mrs. Wheeler said as she handed Mike a plate with two pancakes, “go eat. I don’t want you being grumpy at your party because you’re hungry.”

Mike took the plate into the dining room and sat at the table where Nancy and Holly were already eating their own breakfast.

“There you are sleepy head, happy birthday!” Nancy said as he sat down next to her. This was her last weekend home before she went back to college, and Mike was glad that she had decided to stay an extra few days she didn’t have to in order to celebrate his birthday. As annoying as she could be sometimes, Mike did love Nancy, especially after all the crazy stuff they had gone through together in the last few years.

“Happy birthday, Mikey!” Holly seemed far more excited about Mike’s birthday than even he did, but he supposed that little kids got excited about just about everything.

“Thanks guys,” he said with a small smile as he started to eat his pancakes.

As he finished, Mrs. Wheeler walked into the dining room and told him that Lucas and Dustin were here. He quickly got up from the table and practically ran into the living room.

“Hey guys! It’s so good to see you again, it feels like it’s been ages!” Mike said excitedly as he hugged his friends.

“Hey man! Happy birthday!” Lucas said as he handed Mike a small gift box.

“Happy birthday Mr. Wheeler, it’s a pleasure to have been invited to such an elegant occasion as this,” Dustin said in a terrible British accent as he also handed Mike a gift.

“Oh God, that science camp has made you too fancy, Dustin,” Mike smiled as he handed the gifts to his mother, “how was the East Coast life, Lucas?”

“It was nuts. People in New Jersey are insane. Never again. Never.”

As the boys caught up on their summer escapades, there was another knock at the door.

“That must be Max, I’ll get it, sweetie.” Mrs. Wheeler told Mike.

“Nah, I got it, Mom. You guys can go ahead and head down the basement if you want,” he said to Dustin and Lucas as he walked to the front door, “I’ll be down there in a sec.”

As Dustin and Lucas made their way downstairs, Mike eagerly went to the front door and threw it open.

“Welcome to the party, Max!” he said as she smiled widely at him.

“Happy birthday, Mike! Your present is a little heavy, can you help me bring it in?” She gestured to her right, past where Mike could see from the other side of the doorway.

“Yeah of course!” he replied as he stepped out onto the porch. He couldn’t help but gasp as he saw what was there.

“Oh my God!” he practically yelled. Both Will and El were standing there, beaming at him.

He couldn’t help but hug them both at the same time, as awkward as the position was. It had been an entire year since he had seen either of them in person, never being able to fully flesh out any plans for visits since they had left. As he pulled away, Mike finally got a good look at his two friends. They looked… very different since he had seen them last. El’s hair had grown a few more inches, and now sat just past her shoulders, and she was now sporting a brightly colored button up and shorts. But with Will, Mike could barely believe he was looking at the same person he had hugged goodbye a year ago. Will had gotten a haircut, shorter on the sides and longer on top, and seemed to have gotten a completely new wardrobe as well. Mike was shocked. Gone was the soft boy he had seen last year, and a confident teen stood in his place.

“Wow, Will, you look… different.”

“You sound disappointed,” Will feigned hurt, but couldn’t hold back his smile as he said this.

“No, no!” Mike corrected, “You look great! You both do! Come in!”

The four of them entered the house, and Mrs. Wheeler smiled as she hugged Will and El, asking them how Joyce was doing. They both handed her small boxes as well before walking with Mike and Max down to the basement. Lucas and Dustin were sitting on the couch talking, but stopped as they saw their friends coming down the stairs.

“Oh, hey guys,” Lucas said nonchalantly as he waved at them.

“‘Hey guys’? That’s it?” Mike questioned.

“We may or may not have known they were coming.” Dustin laughed as he got up and hugged Will and El.

“What? And you guys didn’t tell me? What the hell!”

“Max made us promise not to tell you, she wanted it to be a surprise.” Lucas shrugged.

“I had to! I knew it wouldn’t be as cool if we told you ahead of time. Come on, Mike, you know this is definitely the best present I could have given you. Which is good, because I didn’t get you anything else,” Max lightly punched Mike’s shoulder.

“I’m just so happy you guys could come. How did you manage it?” Mike asked.

“My mom finally cashed in her vacation days, and even managed to get a few more because she had to cover last minute for that guy last month. We’re staying here for a whole week!” Will told him.

“This might be the best birthday ever then. What should we do first? I didn’t really expect all of you guys to come, so I didn’t plan anything extravagant, but I do have some board games,” Mike was unsure what to do now, with all his friend sitting in his basement together for the first time in what felt like forever.

“Board games are cool! Do you have Clue? Will and I managed to start a board game club at our new school, but no one ever wants to play Clue because they say its ‘too hard’. I swear 90% of them are mouth breathers,” El laughed as she started rummaging through Mike’s pile of board games.

“We’re only playing Clue if I get to be Colonel Mustard,” Lucas interjected.

“Dude, no way! Colonel Mustard is the best character!” Dustin argued.

They continued to debate this even as El set up the board on a table in the basement and dealt the cards. She finally decided to end it.

“Jesus, I will be Colonel Mustard! I’m just going to pick all of your pieces so we aren’t here all day, I guess. Mike, you can be Professor Plum,” she said as she started to set the pieces onto the starting point on the board, “Will, you can be Mr. Green. Max, you can be Miss Scarlet. And because you two wouldn’t shut up, Dustin you will be Mrs. Peacock and Lucas will be Mrs. White.”

They started to dispute this, but stopped as El gave them one of her famous “I’m going to kill you” looks.

They played for nearly two hours, before Will finally solved the mystery and won the game. Everyone else groaned as El read the mystery cards, confirming he had figured it out.

“What can I say? The magical senses of a Cleric always stick with you. Will the Wise always wins!” Will cheered.

As they started to clean up the game and put it back into the box, talking amongst themselves, Mrs. Wheeler called down to them from the top of the basement stairs.

“Are you kids having fun down there? I have the cake upstairs if you’re ready to eat.”

All six of them seemed to realize how hungry they were simultaneously, and pushed past each other to try and get upstairs as fast as they could. Mike was in no hurry, though, and couldn’t stop himself from smiling at his friends as they shoved and yelled at each other playfully about who would get the first slice of cake. He was so happy to see everyone together again, and it was like they had never been apart, easily falling back into their old routines.

They all sat at the dining room together, chatting as Mrs. Wheeler brought out the large cake she had purchased for Mike’s birthday. It was plain white with blue accents, “Happy Birthday Mike” was written in blue cursive on top, and sixteen candles were lit up on top. Mrs. Wheeler set it down in front of Mike, and started an animated rendition of “Happy Birthday”, which the five other teens sang with an almost comical tone of enthusiasm. They all clapped for Mike as they finished singing, and he closed his eyes to make a wish.

_I wish that this year would be the best year ever._

Mike knew it was a lame wish, but he didn’t really have anything specific he wanted. It was hard to think of something when he was surrounded by his five best friends in the world. It didn’t seem like it could get much better than that. His friends were all smiling as he blew out the candles and Mrs. Wheeler started to cut the cake and hand out pieces around the table.

“This might be the best cake I’ve ever had,” Dustin said with his mouth full.

“Well thank you, Dustin. I’ll have to let the people at the grocery store know.” Mrs. Wheeler laughed before taking the rest of the cake back into the kitchen.

Once they had finished their cake, the party made their way back into the living room to watch Mike open his presents. He sat on the living room couch, as his friends sat around him with Will and Max sitting on either side of him, El sitting in the La-Z-Boy, and Lucas and Dustin sitting on the floor in front of him. Mike reached for Dustin’s gift first, and opened it to find a handful of the newest few X-Men comics.

“Wow, this is awesome! Thanks Dustin.”

“You better let me borrow those when you’re done with them. My mom said I wasn’t allowed to open them before I gave them to you,” Dustin replied with joking anger.

“Of course!” Mike replied as he reached for Lucas’s gift next. It was Super Mario Bros for the NES, and Mike’s eyes widened as he looked at it.

“Dude, this is way too expensive of a gift!” Mike said as he looked at Lucas.

“Eh, don’t sweat it. One of my cousins in New Jersey gave it to me when we were there, but you’re the only person I know with a NES. So I figured I could just give it to you so I can come over and play it whenever I want,” Lucas shrugged.

Mike laughed. “I couldn’t imagine a better Luigi to my Mario.”

“I think you mean the Mario to your Luigi,” Lucas corrected, “I am definitely the Mario in this friendship.”

“In your dreams, Sinclair!”

“Alright children, I’m sure you can take turns at being Mario,” El rebutted, “Open mine next, Mike!”

She handed him her gift, and he opened it to find an Indy 500 mug. He laughed as he admired the mug, impressed that a gift could look so _touristy_.

“I figured since you’re fifteen now, you’ll probably start drinking coffee and working a nine to five job before coming home to your wife and kids,” El joked as Mike gave her a confused look, “Plus, you’ll always think of Will and me when you use it!”

“It’s great, thank you,” Mike said as he set it down with the other two gifts next to him.

“Here, Mike, you can open mine next,” Will said as he handed him a small rectangle wrapped in brown Kraft paper.

Mike slowly tore the paper open to reveal a cassette tape in a plastic case.

“It’s just a mixtape. I figured if you ever got sick of listening to your other ones, you might want something new to listen to,” Will told him.

“Oh, that’s cool! I’ll definitely listen to this later. Thanks, Will! You guys are the best, I really appreciate you all being here,” Mike said as he looked around at his friends.

“We wouldn’t have missed it for the world, little buddy,” Max ruffled his hair as he swatted her hand away.

After going through all the gifts, the party decided to go back downstairs and watch a couple movies until it started to get dark. As they sat together in the basement, Mrs. Wheeler periodically came down to tell one of them that their parents were here to take them back home. They each hugged Mike before they left, and wished him a happy birthday again, promising to all hang out again ASAP. Eventually, it was just Mike sitting down in the basement alone, finishing the last movie they had turned on.

It was around 7 p.m. when Mrs. Wheeler called Mike upstairs to eat dinner with the rest of the family. Once dinner was over, he took the birthday gifts his friends had given him back up to his room. Mike sat down on his bed, turning the cassette Will had given him over in his hands. In Will’s scrawling print the words “To Mike, From Will, Hope you like it” were written along with a smiley face on a small sheet of paper alongside the tape. He decided to listen to it right away, eager to see what songs his friend had chosen for him. He popped it in his cassette player and hit play before laying down on his bed, wanting to fully experience the tape with no distractions. Mike preferred to listen to music like this, feeling like he could better understand the meanings of songs when he gave them his full attention. He closed his eyes as the first song began to play.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mike doesn’t have a canon birthday that I could find, but he seems like such a Virgo to me that I had to make his birthday late August – mostly so he could realistically have a party before the school year started. What did you guys think of this chapter? Are you excited to see what’s on the mixtape? I would love to hear your thoughts so far, and any predictions you might have!


	2. Turn and Face the Strange

The first song on the tape was “Changes” by David Bowie. Mike loved this song, and was instantly transported back to a day more than two years ago.

* * *

October 7th, 1983

As he browsed through the music store, Mike Wheeler couldn’t help but be drawn to the Rock section.

 _Geez, hanging out at Will’s house must be getting to me now._ Mike thought to himself as he walked through the aisles.

Just about every time he was at the Byers’ house, classic rock music could be heard through Jonathan’s closed bedroom door. Although he certainly wouldn’t consider himself as big a fan as Jonathan clearly was of that type of music, it had grown on him over the years.

It was a chilly Friday afternoon, colder than he would have expected in early October, and Mrs. Wheeler had given Mike his weekly allowance when he came home from school that day. Usually he would blow it at the arcade on Saturday morning with the rest of the party, but Dustin and Lucas were both going out of town with their families for the weekend, so he and Will had just planned to hang out at his house later that day. Mike had decided to bike to the small music store downtown to find some tapes for the player he had gotten for his birthday a few months earlier, since he considered the few tapes he had gotten from his parents to be lackluster old-people music at best.

He flipped through the tapes, seeing if any would catch his eye. None really seemed to, until he saw one that made him stop. He pulled it out, reading the off-white, squiggly text of _David Bowie – Hunky Dory_. Mike had of course heard of David Bowie before, but never in a positive light. He could still remember the first time he saw Bowie, it was on an episode of Saturday Night Live back in 1979. Although Mike usually had a strict bedtime, his father always made an exception to watch SNL with him on Saturday nights. It was the one thing that Mike and Ted could bond over, laughing quietly together late at night, taking care to not wake up Mrs. Wheeler or Nancy. It was their little secret that they shared, and Mike loved that. But the mood in the living room seemed to darken when David Bowie came onstage as the musical guest of the week.

“God, I can’t believe they let a queer perform on Saturday Night Live. I thought this was supposed to be a family show,” Ted Wheeler sneered at the TV.

Mike had never heard the word queer before, but he understood it to be a bad thing. It must have been, the way his dad said it.

As he had gotten older, Mike had always tried to shake the negative views of his parents. What kid didn’t? Mike had basically decided that whatever his parents said, he would try to think the opposite. It had worked so far. He was proud of his friends, proud to be a nerd who played D&D and watched Star Wars, even if his parents wanted him to be “normal.” Mike knew that normal was overrated anyway.

He looked around, for what he wasn’t sure, before he took the Bowie cassette up to the register. The older teen working the register seemed less than enthused to be working on a Friday afternoon. “Four dollars,” the employee drawled. Mike fumbled in his pockets, pulling out a couple crumpled dollar bills and some change. He dumped it all on the counter and pushed it forward. The employee rolled her eyes and slid the change off the counter into their hand, counting it quickly. She handed him back a few of the coins, and threw the rest into the register.

Mike stood there until the employee made an annoyed face at him, pushing the tape back toward him. He quickly took it, and shoved it into his pocket along with the change. He hurried out of the store, somehow worried that the people walking through the streets of Hawkins would know what he had bought, would somehow be judging him for it. He biked back to his house, brushing past his mother’s attempted small talk and going up to his bedroom. He couldn’t bring himself to put the cassette tape into his player yet, and elected to sit on his bed reading one of his newer comics until Will arrived.

After nearly an hour, the light voice of Mrs. Wheeler called up the stairs to Mike. “Honey, Will’s here. Come downstairs.” Mike tossed the comic onto his nightstand rushed down the stairs to meet Will at the door. He immediately dragged Will upstairs to his room, wanting to show him his new tape. He was careful to firmly close the door behind them as Will sat down on his bed.

“Everything okay, Mike? You seem a little weird,” Will asked as Mike awkwardly hovered near his dresser where the tape player sat.

“I want to show you something.”

Mike fumbled as he handed the Bowie tape to Will.

“David Bowie? That’s cool. Didn’t know this was your kind of music, Wheeler,” Will laughed as he turned the tape over in his hands. “I’m pretty sure Jonathan has this cassette; you could have just borrowed it.”

“I’m sure he does, but I wanted to buy it. For me. I gotta build my collection somehow, right?”

“Mike, by the time you buy enough tapes to have a collection, everyone else will already be onto the next big thing. Like music you listen to with lasers or something.”

“Yeah right,” Mike replied as took the tape out of Will’s hands, his hands shaking as he opened it and slid it into the tape deck. He paused for a second, listening to make sure his parents weren’t upstairs. Realistically, he knew they probably wouldn’t even be able to hear the music as long as he didn’t turn the volume up too loud, but he still worried about what they might say if they knew he was listening to music like this.

Mike closed the tape deck and started playing the cassette. As the plucky piano notes started, Mike couldn’t help but smile. He felt like he was breaking some kind of unspoken rule, and the rebellion from his parents felt good. He sat next to Will on the bed as “Changes” started to play quietly through the speakers on the player.

“Is this okay?” he asked Will.

“What? Of course it’s okay. I like David Bowie.”

“You don’t think he’s weird? Because he wears makeup and stuff?”

“Nah, I don’t think that matters. Just because he acts a little weird doesn’t make his music any less good.”

Mike felt himself internally curl in at Will’s use of the word “weird.” Mike knew that “weird” and “queer” weren’t that far apart in the vocabularies of most of the people who lived in Hawkins, but he really hoped Will wasn’t like that. He really hoped his best friend wasn’t judgmental like the rest of their small town.

Will seemed to take notice of Mike’s demeanor, and corrected himself, saying, “I don’t think it’s that weird, really. So what if he wants to wear makeup? It’s kind of cool. He doesn’t care what everyone says about him. He dresses and acts however he wants, and that makes him happy. If you think about it, he’s kind of like us. We dress how we want, and we do stuff that kids at school say is weird, but it’s not like that stops us.”

Satisfied by his friend’s words, Mike pressed further. “My dad says that David Bowie is gay, and that I shouldn’t listen to his music because of it.”

“Dude, you really shouldn’t take that stuff to heart. You know how old people are. They think that anyone who dresses weird or sings weird songs is gay.”

“But what if he is? Is that bad?”

“I don’t think so. My mom always says that we shouldn’t judge people who are different from us. I don’t care if he’s gay or not.”

Will’s choice of the words “different from us” rang through Mike’s head.

“What would you do if someone we knew was gay though? Wouldn’t that be different from a famous person?”

Will hummed. “I don’t know. I guess it would be kind of different, but I don’t think I’d care. As long as they’re still a nice person, I don’t think it should matter who they want to date.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s true.”

They listened through the tape the rest of the way through as they read comics together on Mike’s bed. Mike realized that he really liked this kind of music, and was glad to know that Will wasn’t like everyone else in Hawkins.

* * *

Mike couldn’t believe that Will even remembered this day. Although it had been incredibly significant for him, he would have never expected that Will would have remembered it well enough to make it the first song on a tape he made for him. This made him even more eager to listen to the tape the rest of the way through, wanting to see what else Will had in store for him.


	3. Come on and Let Me Know

Mike shuddered as The Clash came pouring through the speakers of his tape player into his bedroom. Hearing this song brought him back to one of the worst nights of his life. Mike didn’t think he could ever forget that night they found Will’s body in the quarry. Well, now he knew it hadn’t even really been Will, but it didn’t make the pain that he had felt that night any less real. Even though it was nearly three years ago now, he could remember it like it was just yesterday.

* * *

November 10th, 1983

Mike didn’t think he had ever pedaled this fast in his life, rushing with Eleven sitting close behind him and Lucas and Dustin trailing not far behind. After Eleven had misguided them to the Byers’ home, they decided to follow the police cars, even knowing that they weren’t going to like what they found. But they still hoped for the best, even as they watched the crowd of policemen pulling that body out of the water. Mike didn’t want to believe it was Will, but he couldn’t deny what he saw just a few feet away. He knew that he would regret the way he reacted, but couldn’t stop himself before he lashed out at his friends.

“You were supposed to help us find him _alive_! You said he was _alive_! Why did you lie to us?” he snapped at Eleven. He could tell by the look on her face that she obviously hadn’t done it on purpose, and was obviously upset, but he couldn’t stop himself from continuing, growing angrier.

“What’s wrong with you? What is _wrong with you_?”

Even though she looked like she was on the verge of tears, he didn’t stick around to see if any tears actually fell. He got back onto his bike as quickly as he could and rode away, ignoring the pleas from his friends to stay and talk to them. He knew he was on the verge of breaking down too, and didn’t want to do that in front of them.

As he entered his home and looked into his mother’s eyes, he finally broke. All he could do was put his arms out and fall into her warm embrace, tears falling harshly onto her dark blue dress. He sobbed as she held him, unable to bring himself to say what he had seen at the quarry. He just stood there for a few minutes trying to breathe, until he calmed down enough to say just four words to Mrs. Wheeler.

“He’s gone. Will’s gone.”

“Oh, honey.”

She didn’t make him say anything else, understanding what he must mean, and let him cry until he was finished. He told her he was going to go back down into the basement, and she let him go without question.

Mike must have sat there for a half-hour before he heard a voice on his SuperCom, Lucas saying he was here to drop Eleven off. He got up off the couch to help sneak her into the basement without his parents noticing, but wasn’t ready to talk to her again just yet. He left her alone to sit on the basement floor, fiddling with the SuperCom as he sat back on the couch and flipped through old drawings Will had done for their D&D campaigns. The only sound that could be heard in the room was the sharp static sound coming from the SuperCom as Eleven turned the dial. He told her to quit it, reminding her again that he felt lied to and completely betrayed.

“You made me think Will was okay, that he was still out there. But he wasn’t. He _wasn’t_!”

She didn’t respond to him, continuing to fidget with the SuperCom’s dial.

He sat there, looking at the drawings, until he heard soft singing coming from the small machine.

_“So come on and let me know, should I stay or should I go?”_

His eyes snapped back up to Eleven.

_“Should I stay or should I go now?”_

That was definitely Will’s voice, Mike would recognize it anywhere. He didn’t understand, he had _seen_ them pull Will’s body out of the cold quarry water. But it was undeniable, that was Will, alive. He jumped from the couch and kneeled next to Eleven on the floor. She held out the SuperCom to him as he gaped at it. He couldn’t stop himself from pressing down the “talk” button and calling out.

“Will, is that you? It’s Mike! Do you copy?”

The only response he heard was static.

“Will! Are you there? Will!”

The static cut into silence abruptly as Eleven closed her eyes, blood dripping from her nose. He looked at her, with tears in his eyes.

“Was that…?”

She gave him a soft smile as she confirmed it, “Will.”

Mike went to bed shortly after that, finding himself struggling to maintain the same broken composure he had held when he first came home. He was filled with a new hope now, knowing that Eleven had been right, that Will was still alive, somewhere at least. Luckily, his mother didn’t take notice of this, and just hugged him again as he reached the staircase, telling him that everything would be okay and that she was here for him when he was ready to talk to her. He couldn’t get that song out of his head until he fell asleep, hanging on to the one piece of Will he had for the moment. Mike knew that they would find him, whatever it took.

He stayed home from school the next day, convincing both Dustin and Lucas to skip as well. He told them what he had heard over the SuperCom the night before, but Lucas still didn’t believe him. Dustin seemed to believe at least somewhat, but Mike knew that he had to prove it to them, so they devised a plan to break into Hawkins Middle School’s AV Club room.

* * *

He had later confessed to Will that he had listened to that song practically on repeat until they found him, really found him, even before he had heard it on the SuperCom that night with Eleven. Mike knew that this song would always haunt him in a way that no other song could. Even though he and Will had listened to it countless times since he had been back, it was one of his favorites after all, he preferred not to listen to it alone. He had never felt more terrified in his life than the week he thought his best friend was gone forever. Even with Eleven’s reassurance that Will was still alive, Mike had had his doubts, unable to fully trust her again after what he had seen. Looking straight into the face of the Demogorgon, or the Mind Flayer, or that disgusting creature from last summer still didn’t give him the same pit in his stomach as that song.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for this chapter basically just being a summary of 1.03 and 1.04, but I didn’t know what else I could contribute that would work chronologically with canon. But I really like this chapter anyway! And of course, you guys know I had to include this song on the mixtape.


	4. Let 'Em Say We're Crazy

Mike could only think of one night as Jefferson Starship started to play. He wasn’t really a fan of their music, but he really liked this song. It reminded him of Halloween night a couple years ago, the worst Halloween he had ever experienced.

* * *

October 31st, 1984

After he caught Will having some kind of episode in the carport of the Ellis’s house, Mike decided to take him back to his house. He sharply told Lucas, Dustin, and Max that he was bored of trick-or-treating anyway, and they could continue on their own. Mike felt so betrayed that Max was there, feeling like she had ruined their whole night by inserting herself into the party. As guilty as it made him feel, he was almost glad to have an excuse to leave for the night and go back home.

As the two friends entered the house, Mrs. Wheeler greeted them, asking if they had had fun trick-or-treating. Mike told her that they had, and had just decided to come back once they got bored. He knew that Will wouldn’t want him telling his mother about the episode, so he omitted that part. She seemed satisfied with his answer, and let them go down to the basement without any more questions.

Mike stepped down the stairs quickly as Will followed closely behind him. He immediately went to the couch, throwing his candy-filled pillowcase onto the floor by his feet. Will did the same, sitting close to his friend.

“So, what happened tonight, Will?” Mike asked after a beat.

“It was nothing, I just got scared I guess.”

“You seemed pretty spooked. Are you sure it was nothing?”

“I don’t know, it just seems like something is wrong with me,” Will said with a sigh.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s like…like I’m stuck”

“Like, like stuck in the Upside Down?”

“No,” Will sighed again, “You know on a View-Mater, when it gets, like-”

“-caught between two slides?” Mike interjected, trying to understand what Will meant.

“Yeah, yeah. Like that. Like one side’s our world and the other… the other slide is the Upside Down.”

Mike paused for a moment, not saying anything.

“And,” Will continued, “And there was this noise coming from everywhere. And then I saw something.”

Mike couldn’t help but notice the fear in his friend’s eyes.

“The Demogorgon?” he asked.

“No. It was like this _huge_ shadow in the sky. Only, it was alive. And it was coming for me.”

Mike shook his head, “Is this all real? Or is it like the doctors say, all in your head?”

“I don’t know. Just…Just please don’t tell the others, okay? They won’t understand.”

“Eleven would.”

“She would?”

“Yeah,” Mike nodded, “She always did. Sometimes I feel like I still see her. Like she’s still around, but she never is. I don’t know, sometimes I feel like I’m going crazy.”

“Me too.”

“Hey, well, if we’re both going crazy, then we’ll go crazy together, right?”

Will chuckled with tears in his eyes, “Yeah, crazy together.”

Mike smiled softly at him, and they both continued to stare ahead for a few seconds.

“I’m sorry Halloween was so shitty this year. It’s supposed to be the best night of the year,” Mike said.

Will frowned, “I’m sorry I ruined your night.

“No, no, it wasn’t your fault, Will! I guess tonight was just destined to fail. I blame Max more than you.”

“Aw, it’s not her fault. I think you just miss El, we all do. Lucas and Dustin are both crushing hard, but they’ll probably get tired of her eventually. She’s really not that bad,” Will said, almost sounding defensive of Max.

“Whatever. I miss when it was just the four of us, playing D&D down here, not worrying about monsters or girls or anything like that.”

“Yeah… me too.”

They didn’t say anything after that for a while. Eventually, Mike stood up from the couch, walking over to the other side of the room.

“Do you want to watch a movie or something?”

Will stood up as well, walking over to where Mike was.

“Sure, what do you have?”

They both squatted down to look through the pile of tapes that were sitting on the floor next to the basement’s small television set.

“Oh my God, why do you have ‘Mannequin’?” Will asked Mike, laughing as he held up a VHS tape.

“That’s Nancy’s, I swear. She must have watched it down here.”

“Okay, sure,” Will said, drawing out the “sure” in a tone of disbelief, “I think I need to watch this shitty Rom-Com right now. Like, immediately.”

“If you insist. I have to warn you, though, the few minutes I’ve seen in passing are _incredibly_ cringey. I don’t know if you can handle it.”

“After the shit I’ve been through the last few days, I could use some mindless television,” Will said as he turned to sit on the couch in front of the television.

Mike shrugged in resignation, sliding the tape out of its case and placing it into the VHS player. He turned on the TV and started the tape before walking back to sit next to Will.

He hated to admit it, but the movie wasn’t that bad. It was just as cringey as he had expected, but it was kind of cute in a way. Even though the plot wasn’t anything Oscar-worthy, he liked being able to turn his brain off for a couple hours and just enjoy a movie with Will in his basement like old times. Finally, they got to the end, and the soft sounds of a band Mike didn’t recognize played as the main characters over the wedding scene.

“Oh, this is Jefferson Starship! Jonathan likes to listen to some of their older music. Did you know they used to be called Jefferson Airplane? I think it’s kind of stupid that they changed their name,” Will explained as if he could read Mike’s mind.

“That’s cool. This song is nice.”

“Yeah, I think the singers are married or something.”

Mike listened closer to the music, unable to ignore the line “let them say we’re crazy” which made him think of him and Will. He tried not to think about it any more than that, pushing the thought away as they watched through the credits.

Soon after, Mrs. Wheeler came downstairs to tell them that Jonathan was there to pick Will up. Mike and Will walked to the front door together, before sharing a quick goodbye.

Mike decided he was ready for bed after that, as it was a school night after all. He changed out of his Ghostbusters costume into his pajamas before climbing into bed and falling asleep.

* * *

Mike never really liked Halloween after that. It was the last year they went trick-or-treating as a party, due to a unanimous vote that they had become too old to go out again by the time the next Halloween rolled around. He had actually never listened to that Jefferson Starship song after that, until tonight. He didn’t like being reminded of Will’s sickness that fall.

In the years since that night, “crazy together” had almost become Mike and Will’s secret code phrase. Whenever one of them came to the other with a problem, or a fear of some kind, they would just assure each other that they were in it together, that they would never leave the other behind. Hearing that song again reminded Mike of how he had taken Will for granted, ignoring him in favor of El, especially after they broke up last summer. Will had only been trying to help him, after all. It made him feel sad, and guilty that he had never taken Will up on his offers to play D&D or go to the arcade. If he had known that it was essentially their last full summer together, Mike knew he would have done things differently.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Listen, hear me out, I KNOW this song didn’t come out until 1987 (and neither did the movie “Mannequin” which it was made for) but COME ON!!! This song was written about Mike and Will and you can’t change my mind. In my Stranger Things universe “Mannequin” came out in 1983, I don’t care.


	5. I Can't Forget This Evening

Mike took a deep breath as the next song began to play: “Without You” by Henry Nilsson. He remembered the first time he had heard this song vividly on a day he feared for his best friend’s life.

* * *

November 5th, 1984

It was nice being able to sit and talk with Will again. After fainting in that field, he had been unconscious for an entire day. When he woke up, the doctors had asked him if he recognized Mike, which he did. Mike tried to resist the warm glow he felt at being one of the only people that Will still recognized as the “virus” as the doctors were calling it slowly stole his memories. They had continued to do testing on Will, burning pieces of flesh they had found in the Upside Down and seeing how he reacted. Mike hated watching his friend suffer from this, tensing with every pained sound that Will made. Eventually, the pain became too much for Will, and he passed out.

Mike assumed Will was in pretty bad condition, because he had been unconscious for nearly three days now. During that time, Mike had refused to leave his bedside, wanting to be right there when Will finally did wake up again. He was nearly asleep now, head leaning onto his bent arm in the stiff hospital seat to the left of Will’s bed. Joyce and Bob were sitting on the other side of the bed, watching Will for any sign that he was about to wake up.

“M-Mike?” a raspy voice softly asked in front of him. His head snapped up.

“Will!”

Joyce stood up from her seat, rushing to Will’s bedside.

“Hey baby, how are you feeling?” she asked as she reached up to rub his head.

“I’m okay. Just kind of hot.”

“Do you want me to go get the doctor?”

“No, I’m fine, Mom.”

Joyce smiled at Will before she walked out of the room, saying she was just going to get Jonathan, who had elected to sit out in the waiting room in case anyone tried to come visit Will. They walked back in together just a couple minutes later, Jonathan wearing his crossbody bag.

“Hey Will,” Jonathan said softly, “glad to see you’re awake. I brought you this. I figured once you were awake you were probably gonna get bored just sitting in here. So, I made you another mixtape.” He took a cassette out of his bag and handed it to Will with a small smile. Will took it, but only stared back at his brother.

“I don’t have any way to play it in here though.”

“Actually, I picked something up for you the other day after work. I figure it’ll come in handy, even after you get out of here,” Jonathan said, pulling another small box out of his bag. He handed it to Will, and Will couldn’t help but gasp softly.

“Jonathan, a Walkman? These are really expensive,” Will said with a sad voice.

“It’s okay! I got a raise at work, and you deserve it. You’ve been through a lot, kid.”

“Well, thank you Jonathan,” Will said as he opened the box, “this is really cool. It’ll be nice having some new music to listen to.”

“I made sure to put all new songs on there; ones I knew you had never heard before.”

Will smiled down at the Walkman as he put the tape inside and Jonathan dug around in his bag again, pulling out a small pair of headphones.

“Figured you would need these too.”

“You’re the best, Jonathan. Thank you for this, really.”

Jonathan sat with them for a few more minutes, catching Will up on some of the things he had missed in the outside world over the last few days. Eventually, he went back out to the waiting room, telling the others that he didn’t want to crowd the room too much for Will since he had just woken up. Will seemed to be fine with this, agreeing that he was getting a little bit overwhelmed. Joyce left the room soon as well, assuring Will she was just going outside with Bob to smoke a cigarette, and would be back soon. That left Mike and Will alone in the room together, sitting in silence.

“So, Mike, you wanna give this thing a try?” he asked Mike after a beat.

“How are we both going to listen with the headphones?”

“Just come sit up here, they’ll stretch. I promise I’m not contagious.”

Mike obliged, climbing up onto the small hospital bed alongside Will. It was a close fit, but neither of them seemed to mind. Mike felt his cheeks heat up slightly as Will scooted even closer to him, and handed him one side of the headphones. He plugged them into the Walkman, and fumbled slightly as he tried to start the tape.

Jonathan’s mix for Will started a lot differently than Mike would have expected. He didn’t recognize the first song that played, but it shot right down to his core. The singer lamented that he could never live without his love. It was sad, and even though he wasn’t surprised that Jonathan would feel so affected by Will’s disappearance and now sickness, it still felt different to Mike. With Eleven gone, he had started to think more about how he really felt about Will. He knew it wasn’t the same way he felt about Eleven, it just _couldn’t_ be. He was perfectly fine pretending he didn’t have a crush on Will Byers.

The two friends sat there listening to the album the rest of the way through, their heads pressed together, and the rest of their bodies close on the hospital bed. They didn’t speak the entire time, not feeling like they needed to. Mike loved that about Will, that they could sit together for hours sometimes without saying a word.

Eventually the tape finished playing, and they sat in silence for a few minutes before Mike took the headphones off their heads, setting them back down onto Will’s lap. Just about every song had been on the mix had been depressing, with a few oldies thrown in. It also had a weird amount of love songs on it, which he hoped wasn’t Jonathan sending him some kind of weird subliminal message. He had to admit, it wasn’t a terrible playlist, but it had created a tense vibe in the room.

“Jonathan sure knows how to make a mixtape, huh?” Mike asked with a nervous laugh.

“Yeah, I guess so. It was pretty good.”

Joyce and Bob walked back in then, and Mike practically leapt from the bed to sit back in the stiff chair next to Will’s bed. He hadn’t meant it to look so obvious, and he blushed as Joyce gave him a look like she _knew_. He hung his head as she began to talk to Will again, asking him more questions about how he was feeling. They talked for a while until Joyce sat back, turning to look at the clock.

“What the hell is taking so long?” she asked to no one in particular.

Bob just turned to her and gently reached out to touch Joyce’s leg.

“Hey, doctors take forever, always. Just try and relax. Just be patient.”

She didn’t accept that, and headed toward the door. She rushed into the hallway, immediately yelling at the guards in front of the doors that she needed to speak with the doctor. Bob followed close behind her, which left Mike and Will alone again. He looked back up at Will, but saw his friend staring blankly into the hallway. The monitor they had on Will started beeping faster, which worried Mike.

“Will,” Mike nudged his friend as he noticed him starting to zone out even more.

“Will? _Will?_ ” he repeated himself, pressing into Will’s arm a little bit harder. Will finally seemed to snap out of his daze, turning abruptly to look at Mike.

“What’s wrong? Are you hurting again?”

“I saw something…” Will shuddered.

“In your now-memories?”

Will nodded as he leaned in even closer to Mike, “The shadow monster. I think I know how to stop him.”

“Okay, how?”

They spent the next half hour speaking in hushed tones as Joyce and Bob continued to argue with the guards in the hospital. Though they were far from having a perfect plan, Mike felt more confident knowing that they had even a glimpse into how to defeat the Shadow Monster that was plaguing his best friend.

* * *

It had been really hard dealing with Will’s sickness. Mike thought it might have even been worse than when Will was stuck in the Upside Down. At least then, he wasn’t watching what Will was experiencing right in front of him. Even when Will had broken his finger falling off his bike, he hadn’t looked like he was in even a fraction of the pain he had been in with those doctors testing on him. Mike was glad that they had eventually gotten the monster out of Will. He felt a wave of anxiety having to remember that time in their lives, but he knew that the first song on Jonathan’s mixtape had been truthful. He really didn’t want to ever imagine living without Will.


	6. My Poor Heart Aches

The next song started to play as Mike turned onto his side. It was “Every Breath You Take” by The Police. Mike recalled this song playing at Hawkins Middle School’s annual Snow Ball a few years back, the first thing they did together as a party after the unforgettable events of the few weeks prior. It was a good night, and Mike didn’t mind looking back on this memory as the song played.

* * *

December 14th, 1984

Sitting at a table in the Hawkins Middle School gymnasium with three of his friends (well, two friends and Max is he was honest with himself, he still wasn’t sure if he was fully committed to keeping Max in the party) was not exactly how Mike had planned to spend that Friday evening, but he was having a relatively good time anyway. He had never expected that he would be the type to enjoy a lame school dance, but the party had decided to go, so he couldn’t say no. Initially, he thought they were just going as a joke, but Lucas and Max genuinely seemed like they were enjoying themselves. He and Will were doing their best to make small talk as the other couple made googly eyes at each other, but it was still a bit weird to try having a “normal” conversation after everything that had happened over the last few months. Even just sitting here in the gym felt weird to Mike. It was so weird to him that the rest of Hawkins was oblivious to everything that happened over the past year, and he still hadn’t determined how he could come to terms with that fact. It was just… well, weird.

“So, how’s Eleven?” Will asked him, eyes not leaving the light blue tablecloth.

“She’s uh- she’s fine. Still trying to work things out with Hopper, I guess. I’m sure it’s been weird at their house since she got back.”

“Yeah, for sure. How are you? Glad she’s back, right?”

“Of course. I missed her when she was gone.”

“I bet.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes, occasionally sipping from their cups of punch, until Mike noticed Dustin enter the gym and walk toward their table. He didn’t think he had ever been happier to see his friend, if only to dissipate some of the tension that had accumulated.

“Holy shit, what happened to you?” Mike asked as he noticed Dustin’s new hairstyle, which was heavily packed with gel in a way Mike had never seen on _anyone_ before.

“What do you mean, ‘What happened’?” Dustin replied, suddenly seeming less confident in his hair choice for the night.

The rest of the party spent the next minute or so poking fun at Dustin’s new style, until a slow song started to play over the gym’s speakers. As couples paired up around the gym, the party stood motionless. It was the first slow song of the night, and no one was sure what their next plan of action would be. Lucas and Max quickly left to go dance, which left Mike, Will, and Dustin standing at the table by themselves. Mike wasn’t surprised by this at all, after how gushy the couple had been all night, he figured them slow dancing together was inevitable. But what happened next left him speechless. A girl he vaguely recognized from one of their classes as Carrie Miller walked up to them, inviting Will to dance.

“Um… I don’t…” was the only thing Will said before Mike nudged him. If he was being honest, he wasn’t sure what he was trying to convey with this action. On the one hand, he wanted Will to have a good time at the dance, as it was rare to have girls interested in them. But on the other hand, Mike saw it as a small betrayal. As irrational as it was, Mike liked the idea of the three of them staying stag at the dance since Lucas and Max had paired off.

“I mean… I mean, yeah. Sure,” Will responded to Carrie, before they walked away with her to dance. Mike couldn’t help but stare as they left. Soon, Dustin walked away too, hoping to snag a dance with Stacey, the newest girl he had a crush on. This left Mike sitting by himself at the table, unable to draw his eyes away from Will as he danced. He hoped this would be the only slow song they played for a while, eager to have his friends back at the table with him.

As a second slow song started, Mike began to grow annoyed. How many slow songs did they really need to play, anyway? Was one not enough? He rolled his eyes as he sipped his punch. He set the cup back down, and looked toward the gym’s entrance. He was surprised to see El walking through the doors, and immediately stood up again. Their eyes met as he took a deep breath.

“You look beautiful. Do you wanna dance?” he asked her once she was close enough to hear him. The two slowly awkwardly began to dance, smiling at each other. As the song continued to play, Mike leaned in to kiss El. It was nice, but Mike couldn’t shake the feeling that it didn’t feel quite _right_. He tried to push these feelings aside, and smiled down at her as they continued to dance.

The rest of the night went by without a hitch, the party eventually coming back together at the table once the second slow song ended. The rest of the party was ecstatic to see Eleven there, even Max. Mike could tell that she was determined to become friends with El, despite the passive aggression of their first meeting. Dustin eagerly told them about how he had danced with Nancy, which Mike couldn’t help but internally groan at. They spent the rest of the night talking and laughing until the dance ended a couple hours later.

* * *

Mike shuddered as the Police song ended. It wasn’t the first time he had thought about that night, but this was certainly the first time he had thought about it with this new context. Mike finally understood why he had had such strange feelings about that whole night. Even while dancing with his girlfriend, who he felt very strongly about, his eyes were still drawn to someone else for most of the night. Will Byers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The emotional turmoil I went through watching that Snow Ball scene like 10 times to write this was… a lot. And the chapter isn’t even that long! The next chapter is super long though, so hopefully that will make up for it! Thanks for reading so far! :)


	7. Tell Me Your Troubles and Doubts

Mike opened his eyes as “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” By Simple Minds started to play. He couldn’t really recall an important enough memory that he and Will shared that would warrant putting this song on the tape. Maybe Will had put it on there by mistake? That didn’t seem likely, considering how meaningful the previous songs had been for the both of them. The only thing that Mike could connect with this song was The Breakfast Club. He remembered that the party had gone to see it just a week after it had come out last year, and tried to look back on that day as he listened.

* * *

February 23rd, 1985

Mike didn’t think his life could get much better than sitting between his best friend and girlfriend at the movies. The party had decided to go see “The Breakfast Club” together that Saturday. Steve had had a day off, and offered to drive them to the mall so they didn’t have to ride their bikes in the chilly February air. The party had gotten there with considerable time before the film started, so they were actually able to all sit in the same row, which usually didn’t happen because they almost always got distracted by something else in the mall and got to the movie late. As they watched the movie, Mike was sure he hadn’t laughed this hard in a while. He and Will constantly leaned into each other, knees knocking together as they shared their M&Ms and giggled at the people on screen.

As the credits rolled, they all got up from their seats and made their way out of the mall, still laughing as they walked out together. And as the party walked out of the mall, they seemed to have only two things on their minds – who would get to ride shotgun in Steve’s car, and which member of the Breakfast Club they could best assign to each other.

El had ended up calling shotgun, one of the newest things she had learned to do, while Max, Lucas, and Dustin sat in the backseat. As usual, Mike and Will had been stuck in the open trunk area together. They didn’t seem to mind, and sat with their backs against either side of the car’s interior with their legs sticking out side by side.

“I think I would be Bender, he’s the coolest one,” Dustin started the argument as Steve began to drive out of the parking lot.

“What? No way! Your hair isn’t good enough to be Bender! You’re more like Brian,” Mike countered from the trunk.

“If anyone is Bender, I think it would be Steve anyway. He has the best hair,” Max offered to the group.

Steve, knowing how intense debates between the party could get, immediately shook his head without taking his eyes off the road, “Nope, keep me out of this. I don’t care which character you guys think I am.”

“Well I think I could be Andrew, he’s the cool athletic one, and that’s definitely me,” Lucas said. There seemed to be no disagreement on this fact, and so it was decided that Lucas would be Andrew.

“Max and I would be Claire and Allison. I think it’s nice how Claire gives Allison the makeover at the end,” El suggested, smiling.

“Oh yeah, they’re definitely us,” Max agreed. El turned around in her seat and offered Max a high five (another new skill she had learned recently), which Max returned without hesitation.

“Okay so if Lucas is Andrew, and El and Max are the girls, who’s Bender and Brian? Also, I don’t know if you guys have noticed, but there are only five of them, and six of us,” Will summarized, laughing, “so two of us are going to be the same character anyway.”

“Come on, Steve, help us decide who would be the other two,” Dustin pleaded, “We promise we won’t get mad at who you choose.”

Steve could only shake his head again and laugh. “I don’t believe you, but fine. Dustin, you have learned the ways of the Farrah Fawcett hairspray, so I think your hair is just as good, if not better than Bender’s. Mike and Will, you can both be Brian because he’s a nerd and you guys are probably the smartest people here. There, that’s my final verdict.”

A wash of silence fell over the party as they contemplated Steve’s decision. Then all at once, they agreed, nodding and giggling at how silly their debate had been.

“Man, who cares which member of the Breakfast Club we would be? There’s no way high school is really like that anyway,” Lucas said.

“Oh, high school is _definitely_ like that,” Steve countered, “There are cliques and different groups that everyone tries to belong to.”

“What about the romance? Is high school romantic like in the movie?” El asked Steve.

“Sometimes. Most of the time it’s just pining after a guy or girl that won’t give you the time of day.”

“Not for me. I’m gonna get tons of girls in high school,” Lucas bragged as they pulled into Mike’s driveway, where the party had planned to spend the rest of their Saturday afternoon. They all climbed out of the car, and Mike led them into the house, greeting Mrs. Wheeler. She didn’t even feign surprise to see 6 children that weren’t hers coming into her house, and just told them that there was leftover lasagna in the fridge if they got hungry. They thanked her before following Mike down to the basement.

They couldn’t seem to stop talking about their dreams of high school. They practically talked Steve’s ear off, continuously asking him questions about everything from high school romance, to clique rivalries, and everything in between. Steve just played along, answering their questions to the best of his abilities, exaggerating occasionally to make the group laugh. After a while though, Mike noticed Will had been silent since they got here. He didn’t want to mention it, and draw any attention to Will, but it was clear he was becoming uncomfortable with everyone talking about their dreams of romance.

Eventually, Will seemed to grow fed up with this discussion, and abruptly stormed out of the basement. This confused Mike, and he followed Will up the stairs as he called after him.

“Will? Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, Mike, don’t worry about it. I just want to go home.”

“What, why?” Mike asked just as they were reaching the front door of the Wheeler house.

“I don’t know, it’s nothing,” Will responded as he sat down on the steps of the porch.

Mike sat down next to him and gave him a worried look as he questioned further, “I’ve never seen you storm out like that before. Something is clearly bothering you.”

“Nothing is bothering me, I just want to go home,” Will replied, but his throat sounded tight, like he was about to cry.

“Will, you know you can talk to me.”

“I just got tired of listening to everyone talking about how excited they were about dating in high school. It’s no big deal.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know, I don’t feel like I’m ever going to have a relationship like that. I don’t think I’m ever gonna fall in love.”

“Sure, you will! You’re a nice guy, I’m sure there will be girls that want to date you in high school. Chicks dig the nerdy guys. You could be like Han Solo or something,” Mike encouraged him.

Will sighed.

“You just don’t get it, Mike. Can I please call my mom?”

“If you really want to go home, let me go get Steve. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind taking you home,” Mike suggested instead.

“Fine, whatever. I don’t want to go back down there.”

Mike looked gently at him.

“Sure, that’s fine. Just stay right here, and I’ll go get him.”

Will didn’t respond, instead looking forward into the distance. Mike briskly walked back into the house and back down into the basement.

“Hey, is Will okay?” Lucas asked as he saw Mike enter.

“I don’t know, he seems upset. He said he wants to go home. Steve, would you mind?” Mike replied, looking at Steve.

“Yeah, sure,” Steve responded, standing up from his spot on the couch, “Sorry to cut this gossip party short, but I’ll be back soon. Try not to do anything stupid ‘til I get back.” He gave each member of the party a pointed finger as he raised his eyebrows.

“We won’t. Make sure he gets home okay, would you?” Mike asked him with a genuine tone.

“You got it, bud,” Steve said as he turned to go up the stairs.

He stepped out of the Wheeler house onto the porch, looking down at the small boy as he did.

“Hey Will. Mike said you wanted to go home. What’s up?” Steve asked.

“Nothing is up. I just want to go home,” Will replied sullenly.

“Okay, no problem. Come on then,” Steve said as he started walking toward the car. Will followed behind him and climbed into the passenger seat. Steve started the car and they sat in silence for a few moments, before Steve decided to question him again. He wanted to talk to Will before he started driving, hoping that he could convince him to go back into the house.

“Are you sure everything is okay?”

“I don’t know. I’m not mad or anything, I just got sick of listening to everyone talk about high school,” Will said, seeming unsure of his wording.

“Why?”

“I just don’t feel like I’m ever going to experience stuff like in that movie.”

“Detention is not as fun as in that movie,” Steve laughed, “Trust me, I would know.”

“That’s not what I mean,” Will replied, growing more frustrated.

“Then what?”

“I just don’t think I’m ever going to have a happy ending like those guys.”

“Oh, I don’t believe that. Even nerds can have happy endings. That guy in Star Wars seemed to figure it out.”

Will had to laugh softly at Steve saying the exact same thing Mike had. But that wasn’t what he meant either.

“No, not because I’m a nerd,” Will corrected, “Because of… something else.”

“What? Because you’re short? You’ll grow,” Steve joked, trying to keep the conversation light as he noticed Will growing tense.

“No, Steve, not because I’m short. I just don’t- I don’t _want_ to be in a relationship like _that_.”

“Well that’s okay. It’s normal not be interested in girls yet. You’re still young, you might change your mind as you get older.”

Will sighed shakily, sounding like he was going to cry again.

“It’s not like that. I want to date. Just not…date girls,” Will confessed quietly.

The two sat in silence for a few long seconds, Steve trying to let the information he had just heard soak in. He wasn’t stupid, he knew what Will meant. He just wasn’t sure how to approach this situation. No one had ever told Steve something like this before. His immediate thought was to just drive Will home. But that’s what the old Steve would have done, completely ignore what his young friend had told him in exchange for keeping everything like it was, and Steve didn’t want to be like the “old Steve” anymore.

“Then I’m sure there will be guys you can date. That’s no big deal. It might be hard finding someone in Hawkins, considering it’s still so ass-backwards about everything, but you’ll be okay,” Steve wasn’t sure if that was the right thing to say, but judging by the way Will released the tension in his shoulders, he figured it must have been.

“You really think so? You don’t think there’s anything wrong with me?” Will questioned him, not sure if he really wanted to know the answer.

“No way. Everyone is entitled to their own feelings. I’m sure it’ll all work out for you, Will.”

“Thank you, Steve. Really, it means a lot that you would say that,” Will said, with a tight smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“Of course, man. You wanna head back inside, or do you still want to go home?”

“I guess I’ll go back inside. I’m sure today won’t be the last day I have to listen to the party talking about stuff like that, so I’ll have to learn to deal with it eventually.”

“I’ll talk to them,” Steve started to say, but specified when he saw Will’s eyes widen, “No, not about that! I won’t tell them, I promise. It’s up to you when you want to tell people. I’ll be real cool about it.”

“Okay, thank you. That would be nice.”

Steve turned the car back off, and he and Will climbed out of the car. They walked back into the Wheeler house in silence, going down into the basement to find the party sitting exactly where Steve had left them, sans Mike, who was now pacing the room.

“Will!” Mike said as he saw the two entering the basement, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah I’m fine. Thank you.”

Mike tried to ignore the redness he saw in Will’s eyes.

“Alright, now that we’re all good, can we move on from the Breakfast Club? I feel like we’ve been talking for hours, and I’m ready to do something else. You guys wanna play Monopoly or something?” Steve suggested. Will was grateful to him for being nonchalant about changing the subject of their previous discussion, and hoped that it wasn’t too obvious to everyone else. No one seemed to notice, and were happy to play Monopoly for the next few hours until Steve drove everyone home that evening.

As Mike laid in bed later that night, he pondered what Will could have been so worked up about. He had his suspicions but, of course, had no intention of bringing them up to his friend. He figured that if Will had anything too serious going on, he would come to Mike when he was ready.

* * *

Mike looked at that memory with a new clarity now. In the year or so since they had seen that movie, a lot had changed. Since then, Will had come to him with what he had been so worked up over, but he still didn’t know why exactly this song was on the mixtape. What did that day have to do with him? He hoped that he hadn’t had anything to with Will’s sour mood that day, and made a mental note to ask him about it the next time he spoke to him after finishing the tape. He decided to put that thought away and let the tape continue to play.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess in the context of this story, it makes sense that Steve was so cool with Robin coming out to him because he had already talked to Will about it. I like that headcanon! What do you guys think? Do you agree with who I assigned to each party member from the movie? Let me know! Also, did you catch my slight reference to another 80s classic movie?


	8. Some Are the Melody, and Some Are the Beat

The soft sounds of an organ came through the tape player’s speakers next. Mike instantly recognized the song, it was one his guilty pleasures. Although he would never admit it, he secretly really liked listening to cheesy love songs. Hearing “Forever Young” by Alphaville calmed his nerves slightly, as he could only connect it with an innocuous night last year, the Hawkins Middle School annual Spring Dance.

* * *

April 20th, 1985

The party was talking loudly as they walked up to the gym of Hawkins Middle School. It was time for the annual Spring Dance, and they were far more excited than they had been for the Snow Ball earlier that year. Max and Lucas had been steadily dating for about six months now, and were wearing coordinated outfits for the night. Mike and Will were walking a few feet behind them, not wanting to intrude on the couple. All four were laughing as they walked through the gym doors, looking around.

The gym was decorated similarly to the Snow Ball, but with a different color scheme. There were pink and green streamers going across the ceiling, and large flowers decorating the walls. They all looked around dreamily at the decorations, making their way to the back of the gym to find a table to sit at. They passed by Dustin, who was standing at the snack table talking to Steve, who had decided to chaperone the dance. He briefly greeted them, before going back to his conversation with Steve. They sat at a table and continued to talk as music played loudly over the gym’s speakers.

Lucas and Max stood back up almost immediately, excusing themselves to go get something to drink. Mike and Will shared a look as they laughed, knowing that they probably weren’t going to be seeing much of their friends for the rest of the night. The couple had been practically inseparable since they had started dating, and used all their time away from her family’s watchful eye to their advantage.

“I guess it’s just us then. Sorry El couldn’t be here,” Will said, leaning back in his chair.

“Yeah,” Mike shrugged, “Hopper is super protective of her, so I doubt she’ll be allowed out of the house anytime soon.”

“That’s okay, it can just be us tonight.”

Mike smiled at Will.

“These dances are so lame. I don’t even know why we decided to come. We should have known Lucas and Max would be off doing their own thing the whole time. They’re probably kissing behind the photobooth as we speak.”

Will had to laugh at that, nodding in agreement.

“We’ll be lucky if we see them again before we leave. Even Dustin seems more interested in talking to Steve,” he said, looking over at the snack table where a group of girls had congregated around two of his friends.

“Well Steve draws in the girls. It’s not a bad plan on Dustin’s part, honestly,” Mike had to admit.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Will replied, looking down at the table and tracing his fingers across the light green tablecloth.

“What about you? Hoping Carrie asks you to dance again?”

“No way. It’s not like she talked to me after the Snow Ball anyway. I think she just didn’t want to be alone during a slow song. Trust me, I’m not interested in her.”

“Good, I don’t want some girl taking you away from the party. Lucas and Max are bad enough. I hope me and El never get like that.”

“Yeah, me neither.”

The two sat in silence as they listened to the cheesy music playing, unsure on how to continue their conversation. Soon, a slow song began to play as couples paired off throughout the gym. Even Dustin had managed to find a girl to dance with, who Mike recognized as Melissa Brown, who had been in their math class last semester. Mike rolled his eyes as he watched all the couples dancing together.

“‘Forever Young’, really? I mean, how cheesy can they get?” Mike groaned.

“We don’t have to sit in here if you don’t want to, Mike. We could go sit outside until the slow songs are over,” Will suggested to him.

“That actually doesn’t sound like a bad idea, let’s go.”

Mike and Will stood up from the table and made their way back out through the double doors of the gym. They turned and began to walk down the sidewalk until they reached a bench they could sit down on. They sat close together, as the still chilly April air whipped around them. Alphaville could still be heard softly from where they sat leaned against the brick wall behind the bench.

“Thanks, Will. This is much better than having to watch everyone in there,” Mike said as he turned to Will.

“Definitely. I’d rather sit out here in the cold then see that. It gets annoying after a while, how obsessed everyone is without all that romantic stuff. Almost makes me miss elementary school, when girls had cooties and everyone preferred to spend their Saturday nights at sleepovers,” Will lamented.

“I get that. I didn’t think I’d ever be into girls. Honestly, my mom and Nancy used to tease me about preferring to spend my time with you instead of trying to hang out with girls from school.”

Will could only blink at this, unsure of how to respond.

“I don’t think I’ll ever be like the people inside that gym,” he finally decided on as a response.

“What, into girls? You never know, until I met El I didn’t think I would be either.”

Will sighed.

“That’s not… never mind.”

“What? What’s up, Will?”

“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it. It sounds like the song’s over, so I’m gonna go back inside,” Will said as he quickly stood up from the bench.

Mike quickly got up as well, trying to catch up to his friend.

“Wait, did I say something wrong? I’m sorry.”

“No, Mike, it’s fine. Everything is fine.”

Hearing Will’s tone as he said this, Mike knew he had said _something_ wrong, but decided not to say anything else and risk upsetting Will further. They went back into the gym to find Lucas and Max sitting with Dustin at the table they had been at previously.

“Hey Will, you okay?” Dustin asked as they approached the table.

So it was really that obvious he had screwed up?

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m gonna go get a drink, I’ll be right back.”

But Will never came back to the table. Mike assumed he had called his mom or Jonathan to come pick him up, but he still didn’t know why. Although the party barely took notice of Will’s absence other than a brief mention that he had probably just felt sick or something, Mike knew better. He reserved to call Will tomorrow after his family got back from church and talk to him about it, hoping that Will wasn’t mad at him.

* * *

Mike never ended up calling Will after the Spring Dance. It was one of those things he had always planned on, but never ended up doing. Eventually, he had even forgotten the details of that night, figuring it was insignificant enough that he didn’t need to think about it ever again. It had clearly meant more to Will, though, if he had remembered one of the songs to the point that he would want to put it on a mixtape to share with his best friend.


	9. If You Fall, I Will Catch You

There clearly seemed to be a theme to the songs Will had chosen now. Each song so far was a moment they had shared together. This almost worried Mike. He had accepted a long time ago, even before he and El had broken up last summer, that the feelings he had for Will were more than just that of a best friend, but he’d always been far too scared of the consequences to ever come clean about it. Having to face these memories again nearly made Mike feel like he was going to pass out, but nevertheless, he kept listening. The next song on the mixtape was “Time After Time” by Cyndi Lauper. He vaguely remembered this song playing at the Snow Ball that one year as well, but figured that wasn’t why it was on the mixtape. Mike knew what it had to be as he recalled one of the most unbelievable days of his life.

* * *

March 15th, 1985

Walking up to the front door of the Byers’ house, Mike took a deep breath. He wasn’t sure why he felt nervous. He had never felt nervous coming over to Will’s house in all the years he had known him, but today felt different for some reason. Maybe Mike was just worried about Will because he hadn’t been in school that day, he wasn’t quite sure where the feeling was coming from.

He tried to push his nerves aside as he knocked on the door, suddenly wishing he had called Joyce ahead of time to make sure it was okay he even came over. Their car was parked in the yard in front of the house, so he knew that they were home. A few moments passed, and Mike almost considered turning around and going back home, but then the door opened, and Mike looked onto the warm face of Joyce Byers.

“Hi Mrs. Byers. I brought Will’s work he missed at school today.”

“Hey Mike. Will isn’t really feeling up to seeing anyone right now, he’s feeling pretty sick. But I can give it to him if you want.”

“We learned a new equation in algebra, and I don’t think he’ll get it without some help. Could I come in for just a few minutes?”

Joyce seemed to contemplate this before responding, “I suppose a few minutes wouldn’t hurt. Come on in.”

She stepped out of the way, and let Mike into the house. He immediately made his way down the hall to Will’s room, and knocked gently on the door. He waited for an answer, but didn’t hear anything. Figuring Will was just asleep, he gently pushed the door open and walked inside. He saw Will rolled over on his bed facing the wall, and could hear soft music coming from the radio that Jonathan had given his as a hand-me-down for his most recent birthday.

“Will?” he asked again, hoping he might wake him up. He got no response other than Will shifting under the covers.

 _He doesn’t seem like he’s asleep._ Mike thought to himself before speaking again.

“Will, I brought your work you missed at school today. Your mom said I could just leave it, but we learned a new equation today, and it’s kind of hard. I figured you might want some help.”

Again, there was no response other than a small sniffle from Will.

“Come on Will, I can tell you’re not asleep. I’ve been able to tell for years,” Mike chuckled lightly at this. The many years of sleepovers meant that he had learned to tell when Will was faking being asleep. “I don’t care if you’re sick, I even got my flu shot this year.”

Will finally rolled over at this. Mike stilled as he looked over at him. He could tell that Will had been crying as red and puffy eyes met his. He definitely didn’t look sick, though.

“Mike, just go away, please,” Will practically whispered to him. Mike immediately came to sit on the bed next to his best friend.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I’m just sick. I don’t want to get you sick too.” Will won’t meet Mike’s eyes as he says this, but Mike scoots closer to him on the bed anyway.

“Will, you’re a terrible liar. Talk to me, I want to help you.”

Will finally sits up under his covers and gains a more assured tone as he says, “You can’t help me Mike. Nobody can help me.”

“Well even if I can’t help, I can still listen. What’s up?”

“I can’t tell you. You’ll hate me.”

“Will, come on. We’ve been best friends for years, I could never hate you. Even if you had killed a guy, I’d probably still help you pack your bags and get out of town before the cops wised up. Did you kill a guy or something?”

Will had to laugh at that. Even when he didn’t mean to, Mike always knew what to say to make Will laugh.

“No, I didn’t kill anyone.”

“Then I don’t see a problem! What’s going on, Will?”

Will sighed, “It’s nothing serious, Mike, I promise. It was just something with my dad.”

Mike knew that Will’s relationship with his father had always been rocky at best.

“It must have pretty bad for you to skip school over it. I’ve never known Will Byers to be the type to play hooky. What happened?”

Will took a deep, shaky breath.

“I… told him something about me, and he got really mad. I was a little shook up about it, that’s all. I just wanted a day off. That’s it, really.”

“Geez, what could he have gotten that mad about?”

“I can’t tell you, Mike. Really, you won’t like it. You won’t want to be my friend anymore.”

Mike put his hand on Will’s shoulder, and looked in his eyes.

“Will, there’s nothing in the world that could tell me that would make me not want to be your friend anymore. I promise you. Friends don’t lie, remember? Tell me.”

Will sighed and looked away from Mike.

“Fine. I, uh, I told him that I’m… gay,” Will said practically under his breath. He wasn’t sure if Mike had even heard him, didn’t know if he wanted him to have heard him. He continued anyway.

“He said he didn’t want anything to do with his ‘fairy’ son, he completely disowned me. I’m really sorry Mike. I understand if you don’t want to be my friend anymore.”

A tear fell from Will’s eye as Mike gently grabbed his shoulder and turned him back toward him.

With the gentlest voice Mike replied, “It’s okay, Will. Honestly. I don’t care if you’re gay. One of my cousins is gay, and even though my family doesn’t like her to come to Thanksgiving anymore, she still writes me letters from college sometimes. I’d never stop being your friend over something like that. I’m sure Dustin and Lucas would still want to be your friend too.”

“No! I don’t want them to know. Please don’t tell them, Mike. Please don’t tell anyone.”

“Okay, Will, I promise I won’t tell anyone.”

Mike couldn’t help but lean over and hug his best friend. Will tucked his head into the space between Mike’s neck and shoulder, breathing deeply. Mike felt a tear fall onto his thin t-shirt as he thought about what his friend had told him. Will was gay. Mike would be lying if he said this came as a surprise, he had always wondered if the taunts from Troy and his minions were true, but he never wanted to confront Will about it.

The two sat without moving for what felt like hours, as the radio continued to play quietly. Mike recognized Cyndi Lauper’s voice singing “Time After Time” from the countless times he had heard Nancy listening to it in her room. He couldn’t help but think about how the lyrics seemed to speak to him, especially with what he knew now. Mike slowly pulled away from Will.

“Hey, Will?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m always going to be here for you, okay? No matter what. Crazy together, remember?”

Will couldn’t help but smile at his best friend.

“Crazy together.”

* * *

While it wasn’t the first time they said those words to each other, and it wouldn’t be the last, that time was certainly the most meaningful for Mike. He had tried not to think about that day very often, not wanting to dwell on it, until tonight that is. He couldn’t get those words out of his mind. “Crazy together.” Mike loved having a best friend that he was that close with. He and Will had been best friends since Kindergarten after all. He contemplated getting up right then to call Max’s house and talk to Will, wanting to know so badly why he had chosen these songs and what he hoped to accomplish by sharing them with Mike, but decided against it, wanting to hear what else was on the tape first. Mike really had no idea where else Will could possibly go with this, or how much deeper he could prod into memories that Mike had all but forgotten.


	10. I Just Want You to Stay

Mike could have cried listening to the next song that played on the mixtape: “Hard to Say I’m Sorry” by Chicago. It made him feel like such an asshole that Will was reminding him of the only night they had listened to this song together – one of the worst nights of last summer.

* * *

July 2nd, 1985

It was obvious that Mike and Lucas weren’t really paying attention to Will’s D&D campaign. It wasn’t even a bad campaign (though Mike thought he probably could have done better), but both boys were too preoccupied with thoughts of their (now ex-) girlfriends. Mike almost felt guilty, it was clear that Will was putting a lot of effort into the game, enthusiastically describing scenes and even wearing his “Will the Wise” costume. But he just couldn’t bring himself to care. This “day free from girls” was not what he wanted, and he was growing tired of acquiescing to Will’s constant requests to play D&D lately.

“Flesh tears! Ah!” Will yelled after his roll determined that a zombie bit Mike’s character.

“Oh no my arm,” Mike said sarcastically, “Lucas, look, my arm.”

Lucas snickered. Will seemed unamused but continued, ignoring Mike.

“Sir Lucas, the zombie horde roars! Do you fight back, or do you run?”

The phone rang on the wall, drawing both Mike and Lucas’s attention from the game.

“No! It’s a distraction,” Will said, hitting his staff to the floor, “A trap. Do not answer it.”

Mike and Lucas both ignored him, rushing to the phone and answering it.

“El?” Mike asked into the phone. He pauses for a moment, and only hearing a telemarketer on the other end said, “Sorry, not interested,” and put the phone back onto the receiver.

“Maybe we should just call them,” Lucas suggested to Mike.

“We can do that? What would we even say?”

“We’ll say nothing!” Will interrupted the other two boys, “The Khuisar tribe still needs your help.”

“All right then. I’ll use my torch to set fire to the chambers, sacrificing ourselves, killing the jujus, and saving the Khuisar.” He gave Lucas a sarcastic high five.

Will was growing more and more frustrated with his friends.

“Okay. Fine. You guys win,” Will said, defeated, as he threw his wizard hat down onto his chair. “Congratulations.”

“Will, I was just messing around,” Mike tried to defend himself.

Will ignored him, taking his cape off as well.

“Hey, let’s finish for real. How much longer is the campaign?”

“Just forget it, Mike,” Will surrendered, clearly angry with them.

“No, you want to keep playing right?” Mike asked Lucas.

“Y-yeah, totally,” Lucas replied, not sounding convincing in the slightest.

“We’ll just call the girls afterwards.”

This was clearly the last straw for Will.

“I said forget it, Mike, okay?” he shouted, “I’m going home.”

He pushed past Lucas, and rushed up the basement stairs. Mike followed him outside into the open garage, rain pouring loudly just past where Will was standing next to his bike.

“Will, come on,” Mike pleaded, “You can’t leave. It’s raining. Listen, I said I was sorry, alright? It’s a cool campaign. It’s really cool. We’re just not in the mood right now.” Mike spoke quickly, hoping that he could convince Will to stay.

Will finally responded, sounding like he was on the verge of tears, “Yeah, Mike. That’s the problem. You guys are never in the mood anymore. You’re _ruining_ our party.”

“That’s not true,” Mike tried to argue.

“Really? Where’s Dustin right now?”

Mike couldn’t respond, he didn’t know where Dustin was.

“See? You don’t know and you don’t even care. And obviously he doesn’t either and I don’t blame him. You’re destroying everything, and for _what_?” Will continued, growing louder and more frustrated, “So you can swap spit with some stupid girl?”

“El’s not stupid! It’s not my fault you don’t like girls,” Mike said before he could stop himself.

Will looked absolutely devastated at Mike’s words, bottom lip trembling as he breathed roughly. Mike just stood there as a loud crack of thundered echoes through the neighborhood.

“I’m not trying to be a jerk, okay? But we’re not kids anymore. I mean what did you think, really? That we were never gonna get girlfriends? That we were just gonna sit in my basement all day and play games for the rest of our lives?”

Will really looked like he was going to cry now.

“Yeah,” he sniffled, “I guess I did. I really did.”

He climbed onto his bike, and started riding out in the rain, Mike calling after him.

He went back inside, telling Lucas that Will was going home. They decided to follow him, but the few minutes difference meant that they couldn’t see him anymore through the harsh rain. They made their way to the Byers’ house in silence. Mike didn’t want to tell Lucas what he had said to Will that made him leave. He felt so bad, and didn’t want to have to repeat it again.

When they arrived at the house, they rushed up to the front door, calling for Will again while banging on the front door. There was no answer, and no car in the yard, so Mike assumed he had to be here somewhere.

“He must be out back in the woods. Lucas, you should head on back, the weather is probably just going to get worse. I’m the one who screwed up, I should be the one who apologizes for it. I’ll call you later when everything is good,” Mike told Lucas, walking back out into the yard in front of the house.

“Okay, if you say so. Make sure he’s alright, he seemed pretty pissed at your house.”

“I will, don’t worry.”

Mike waved Lucas off before making the trek back into the woods behind the Byers’ house. He almost hoped that Will _wasn’t_ out here, because the heavy rain had made the mud slick. He tripped more than a few times running between the trees, continuing to call Will’s name. He still didn’t get a response, only hearing more thunder rumbling throughout the dense woods.

Finally, he came upon Castle Byers. It wasn’t necessarily his intended destination, but something seemed to have drawn him here. As he got closer, he noticed that the small light was on inside the fort, but he still didn’t see Will. Figuring that he was inside anyway, Mike kept his distance for a couple minutes, hoping that he wouldn’t have to intrude on Will’s safe place.

Finally, Will did step out of the fort. He didn’t look quite as angry anymore, just really sad. Mike just stood there and watched as Will lifted his baseball bat, and began destroying what was essentially his second childhood home.

He was screaming as he knocked down the large sticks that supported the fort. Mike didn’t ever think he had seen Will look so… defeated.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid! Uh! Fuck!” Will yelled as he ripped the “Castle Byers” sign down, effectively destroying the entire structure.

Mike watched dumbfounded as his friend fell to the ground and sobbed, and he couldn’t stop himself from running the few feet left to the fort.

“Will!” he shouted over the rain, dropping the ground beside Will.

Will looked terrified to see him, a look that Mike never wanted to see on his best friend’s face.

“What do you want, Mike? Can’t you just leave me alone?” Will replied, choking back another sob.

“I just wanted to come apologize to you. I feel so shitty about what I said, Will. I never would have said it if I had known it would make you this upset. I was a total asshole, I’m sorry.”

“It just sucks that _that’s_ what you chose to throw back in my face.”

“I know, I wasn’t even thinking when I said it. But that doesn’t make it okay. I’m really, really sorry, Will.”

“I trusted you, Mike. And you betrayed me. I don’t know if you’re ever going to be able to fix that,” he said as he looked sadly up at Mike.

“I know, I’m sorry. Let’s just go inside, we’re both going to get sick if we stay out here much longer.”

Mike stood up from his spot, attempting to wipe some of the mud off his legs unsuccessfully. He wiped his now dirty hand on his shorts before reaching his hand down to help Will up. Will reluctantly took his friend’s hand, allowing himself to be lifted off the ground. Mike didn’t let go of his hand the entire time they walked back to the house.

They didn’t say anything as they walked down the hallway, first going into Jonathan’s bedroom, which confused Mike.

“I’m just getting you some dry clothes. None of mine would fit you, so I’m just going to let you borrow something of Jonathan’s. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind,” Will, practically reading Mike’s mind. Mike just nodded, letting Will hand him an old t-shirt and pair of shorts.

“They might be a little big, but you’ll manage.”

“It’s okay. Thank you, Will,” Mike said. He followed Will back into his bedroom, watching him dig through his dresser, pulling out a shirt and shorts for himself.

“You can go change in the bathroom,” Will said, sounding like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Mike went into the bathroom, not even bothering to fully close the door behind him, and changed out of his wet clothes as quickly as he could. He wet a hand towel in the sink and tried to wipe the residual mud off his legs as best as he could. Once he felt satisfied, he walked back toward Will’s room, and saw him sitting on the edge of his bed wearing the dry clothes he had picked out. Mike couldn’t help but feel sad looking at his friend staring down at his lap on the bed.

“Will? You okay?” Mike asked, even though Will clearly didn’t look okay.

Will just looked up at him, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand.

“Yeah, I’m fine. You can go back home if you want.”

“Don’t worry about it, I want to stay with you,” Mike said as he sat down on the bed next to Will.

They sat in silence, the only sound in the room being the soft music playing on the boombox on Will’s dresser. After a while, Will stood up from the bed, walking slowly over to the dresser. He grabbed a tape from his short stack and put it in the boombox before turning the volume up.

“Oh, geez, Chicago? It’s that bad?” Mike asked jokingly, trying to lighten the tension in the room.

Will didn’t say anything, just walked to the other side of the bed and laid down, putting his arm over his eyes. Mike just stared at him as the music continued to play. He laid down on the small bed next to his friend, continuing to just look at him.

Finally, Will moved his arm and turned to look back at Mike.

“What?”

“Nothing I was just thinking…”

“Thinking about what?”

“Chicago,” Mike replied.

“The city or the band?”

“The band, dummy,” Mike laughed, “I was just thinking about how much I relate to this song.”

“How so?” Will asked him. Mike didn’t really respond, just sang along quietly to the music.

“ _Hold me now_. _It's hard for me to say I'm sorry_. _I just want you to stay_. _After all that we've been through_ , _I will make it up to you_. _I promise to_ ,” Mike tapped his fingers on the bed sheets as he sang. He knew he wasn’t a great singer, but he hoped it didn’t matter. He was trying to use the song to say what he couldn’t make clear to Will.

“You’re a terrible singer, you know that right?” Will asked him, unable to stop the laugh that spilled past his lips.

“Yeah, I know. But I mean it. I’m so sorry for what I said, and how much of an asshole I’ve been all summer. I’m not asking you to forgive me, I just want one more chance. I won’t screw up again, I promise. Please?”

“It’s gonna take a long time for me to trust you again, Mike. You really hurt my feelings. But I don’t think I can handle looking at that sad look on your face anymore. You’re on thin ice, Wheeler, but yes, we’re all good,” Will said with a small smile.

Mike couldn’t help but grin brightly as his friend.

“Thank you, Will, I mean it. Thank you for still wanting to be my friend.”

“You’re kind of a dick, but I guess you’re my dick,” he said before Mike burst into laughter, “Oh my God, I hate you, you know that’s not what I meant,” but Will started laughing too. They found it hard to stop laughing at that point. Mike was just glad to see Will smiling.

* * *

  
That night had been… really hard for Mike. He couldn’t even imagine how bad Will must have felt, having the secret he had told Mike in confidence thrown back in his face like that. Mike had tried incredibly hard after that to think before he spoke to Will, or anyone for that matter. He never wanted to be the asshole guy. That title had made it really hard for Steve to grow as a person, and although Steve was much kinder and well-liked now, Mike never wanted to _have_ to outgrow being an asshole.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mike actually apologizing to Will about throwing his sexuality in his face? Can you believe? I was so pissed he never really apologized in S3, so I felt like I needed to fix that with this chapter. 
> 
> Just like the Snow Ball chapter, I feel like I’ve been emotionally traumatized having to watch that damn scene in S3 so many times to write this. Fun fact, I actually wrote this chapter last because I literally couldn’t bring myself to watch that scene again lol


	11. You're A Candle in the Window

The next song on the mixtape was “Can’t Fight This Feeling” by REO Speedwagon. He liked this song, but wasn’t sure how it connected to him and Will. He tried to think as hard as he could about when they would have listened to it before. Finally, he remembered one night.

* * *

July 19th, 1985

It was around 8:30 p.m. when Jonathan’s car pulled into the parking lot of the Palace Arcade. Mike and Will were standing outside the arcade in the warm July evening air, talking as the headlights grew closer. After the events of the 4th of July, Mike had really tried to spend more one-on-one time with Will, not wanting him to feel as left out as he had when he and El were still together. Jonathan rolled down the driver’s side window and waved at them. They got into the car, both sitting in the backseat, which Jonathan jokingly rolled his eyes at.

“What am I, your taxi driver?” he asked them. Both Mike and Will laughed at this as they pulled back out onto the street.

“Did you guys have fun at the arcade? Spend all your allowance money?” Jonathan asked.

“Oh yeah. I think half that arcade’s profit comes from us,” Mike replied.

They drove in silence for a few minutes, listening to the music quietly playing on the radio. Mike didn’t really recognize any of the songs that played on the radio, until a song by REO Speedwagon came on. Mike was a sucker for love songs, as much as he hated to admit it. He hummed along to the melody of the song.

As the song played, Mike and Will just kind of stared at each other, not saying anything. Mike could vaguely remember hearing this song while at El’s one night, but that didn’t matter to him now that they were broken up.

“Hey, Mike, I bet if you put this song on a mix for El, she would definitely want to get back together with you. Girls love mix tapes,” Jonathan said.

Mike shook his head and shrugged, “I don’t think we’re gonna get back together anytime soon, but thanks. Honestly, this song doesn’t really remind me of her anymore, anyway.”

“Does Mike Wheeler have a crush on another girl already? You work fast!”

“Something like that.”

In his peripheral, he saw Will’s eyes widen, but he just assumed it was because Will was shocked that he could be so casual about his and El’s breakup.

They soon pulled into the Wheeler’s driveway, and both Mike and Will climbed out of the backseat together. Will walked with Mike all the way to the front door, but stopped him before he could enter the house.

“Hey, Mike?”

“Yeah?”

“You really don’t think you and El are going to get back together?”

“I don’t know. She doesn’t seem like she wants to get back together, and I guess I can’t be mad at her for that. As long as she’s happy, I’m fine. Has she been managing okay staying at your house?”

“It’s been hard for her without Hopper, but I think she’s gonna be okay. It’s been hard for everyone after what happened. My mom really likes her, though.”

“Yeah, I know. It’ll be good for her living with you guys, I think. Your mom is super cool, and I’m glad El will get to have a real mom again.”

Will didn’t respond for a beat, and Mike turned to go into the house.

“Wait, Mike.”

“What?”

“You said, in the car I mean, that you had already moved on from El. Is that true?” Will asked, somehow making a simple question sound painful.

“I guess so. I figured it wasn’t worth it to dote on her if she’s not interested anymore. But don’t worry, I’m not planning on getting a girlfriend anytime soon.”

“Oh, uh, okay. Cool. I mean- I’m glad you’re not upset about it anymore.”

Mike was a little bit confused, what was Will talking about? He seemed really worked up about what Mike had said in the car, and Mike wasn’t sure why.

“Yeah, I think I’ll be okay. And I was mostly joking about what I said about already having a crush on someone else.”

“You were?”

“Of course. That REO Speedwagon song is so cheesy, I couldn’t resist joking a little.”

“That makes sense,” Will said, sounding a little sad.

Mike was even more confused now. He thought Will would be happy that he wasn’t going to be so strung up on El anymore, but he didn’t. He didn’t sound happy that Mike was over El, but he also didn’t sound happy that he wasn’t interested in anyone else at the moment. What was he supposed to say then? He wasn’t sure.

“Alright, well, goodnight then,” Mike said, finally turning to go back into the house.

“Goodnight, Mike,” Will responded quietly, already walking off the porch back to Jonathan’s car.

* * *

Mike still didn’t understand why Will had been so weird that night. And why would he put this song on here? It wasn’t like the other songs, where they had some important memory connected to it. Mike shrugged it off, thinking maybe Will just liked the song and wanted to include it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is so short, and doesn’t really have a point lol. I desperately wanted to include this song, but wasn’t exactly sure how to work it in. I hope y’all can forgive me. The next chapters are longer, and actually have real purpose, I promise! ALSO, if you didn’t get it (bc there’s only so much I can say with limited third person perspective) Will was obviously thinking of Mike when they were listening to this song in the car, and got upset because he hoped that Mike was talking about him when he said he had a crush on someone else. And perhaps Mike said he was joking because he was worried he had made Will uncomfortable.


	12. Falling Behind in What Could Be

Mike couldn’t help but open his eyes and sit up on his bed. He never would have even considered that Will might share the same feelings he had, but he was starting to think that had to be the case with the songs that he had heard so far. His whole body felt like it was on fire, and his breathing had noticeably increased. He couldn’t stop himself from standing up and starting to pace around his room. But as the next song started to play, he abruptly stopped.

 _Holy shit. Not Steve Winwood. No way._ He thought to himself as the tape played. Mike vividly remembered the first time he had ever heard this song, just a couple months prior to tonight, and practically collapsed back onto the bed, putting his head in his hands as he listened.

* * *

June 25th, 1986

It was a warm Wednesday evening as Mike Wheeler sat on his living room couch, watching MTV. It was the second week of his summer vacation after a long freshman year. Ted and Karen Wheeler had gone out on a date that night, and Holly was at a sleepover at one of her friend’s houses, which left Mike to his own devices for the evening.

Mike and the party (at least the members that still lived in Hawkins) had started at Hawkins High School that year with little trouble. They had seemed to grow into themselves a little bit after the events of last summer, finally realizing after literally looking death in the face that they wouldn’t care as much what everyone else thought about them. Mike had struggled a lot at first with school after Will and El left in August, but Dustin, Lucas, and Max had helped him through it. He was eternally grateful to his friends for this, and the four had become a lot closer in the process.

But the year was over now, and Mike was free to enjoy some free time before he started work at Scoops Ahoy the next week. Steve had helped him secure a job there, which he was very thankful for. Tonight, though, he wasn’t thinking about schoolwork, or his new job. He normally didn’t like to hang around the living room, preferring to sit up in his room with his comics and his music, but tonight he was awaiting a phone call, and wanted to make sure he could answer as quickly as possible when it came.

After sitting through nearly ten music videos, the phone finally rang. Mike sprang from the couch, rushing to the kitchen to answer it.

“Hello?”

“Mike?” the voice on the other side of the line responded.

“Will! How are you?”

“I’m good! How are you?”

“Glad to be done with school, that’s for sure. Did you guys make it through the year at your new school okay?”

“Yeah, we managed. El and I got involved with some clubs, which made it a lot easier. What are you up to tonight?”

“Not much, I was just watching MTV before you called,” Mike replied, the music from the television still softly audible in the kitchen where he was standing.

“Oh, no way! Me too! Did you see Bon Jovi?”

“Yeah, they were awesome! I’m in the kitchen now, so I can’t see the TV anymore,”

“Well pull the phone as far as you can so we can watch it together, Wheeler!”

Mike hummed in response, walking back toward the living room. He could just barely see the television set when he pulled the phone as far as it would go without putting too much tension on the wire.

“Okay, I’m watching again,” Mike said as he held the phone back up to his ear, cradling it between his ear and shoulder as he leaned against the wall.

He could practically hear Will’s smile as he said, “Oh nice, Steve Winwood!” Mike squinted at the television screen, trying to determine if he had seen this video before. He wasn’t an avid MTV viewer, so he didn’t think he had.

“Who?” he asked Will through the phone.

“Steve Winwood! This is the video for his song ‘Higher Love’, it’s super popular. How do you now know who he is?”

“I don’t know, I guess I just haven’t seen this video yet. I like it so far though,” Mike said.

“This is probably one of my favorite songs right now. I think it’s so cool that Winwood goes deeper than a lot of the other music on the radio. Like he’s singing about true love, man. I like that a lot.”

“Yeah, that’s cool. Have you found true love in Chicago, then?” Mike asked, with an almost forced laugh.

Will couldn’t help but laugh in response, “No, nothing like that. El and I have tried to focus more on just settling in before we get on the dating scene.”

“There’s no one you have your eye on?”

“Nah, no one here anyway. What about you?”

Mike tried not to dwell on the first half of Will’s words before he responded, “No, me neither. It seems like it’s all anyone else can think about, though. Lucas and Max are still together, at least for the next couple days, we hope. And Dustin is still doing the long-distance thing with Suzie. I think she’s gonna tell her parents soon.”

“Oh God, you haven’t had to sit through any more karaoke sessions, have you?” Will laughed again.

“Thankfully, no. I still laugh every time I think about that.”

“It was definitely one of the only good things that came out of that night.”

The two friends continued to talk for the next hour, making light conversation about some of the events of the past school year in addition to their summer plans. Will told Mike that they would hopefully be able to come back for the Fourth of July, but he would have to double check with his mother. Mike was thrilled at this, and already looking forward the next month’s holiday. Soon, their conversation got serious again as Mike decided he wanted to share a very important piece of information with his friend. A few seconds of silence passed after Will’s most recent statement until Mike started speaking again.

“Hey, Will?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I tell you something?”

“Of course you can, Mike. What’s up?”

“It’s kind of weird.”

“It’s probably not as weird as you think. Is everything okay?” Will asked, sounding worried about his friend.

“Yeah, yeah, everything is fine. I’m just thinking about that song.”

“What song?”

“That Steve Winwood song.”

“Oh, okay. What about it?”

“I like what he’s singing about, too. The ‘true love’ thing you mentioned before,” Mike said, suddenly regretting that he had even brought it up in the first place.

“Sounds like Mike Wheeler has a crush. Are you sure there’s no girl you’re after?”

“Uh, yeah. There’s no girl.”

There was suddenly silence on the other end of the phone. A few agonizingly long moments passed before Will spoke again.

“I see. Is there something you’re trying to tell me, Mike?”

Mike wasn’t sure how he wanted to respond. Yes, there was absolutely something he was _trying_ to say, he just wasn’t sure if he was actually going to be able to say it.

“Sort of. Do you remember what you told me last year?” Mike asked lightly.

“If we’re talking about the same thing here, then yes. If not, I’m lost. But I don’t want to assume anything.”

“Oh, I mean, I-I’m not uh… gay.”

There was a pause.

“Okay,” Will said.

“I mean, I’m sorry, that sounds bad. I don’t mean it like that,” Mike really hoped that this didn’t sound to Will as it sounded coming out of his mouth. He was basically word-vomiting at this point.

“What _do_ you mean then, Mike?” Will sighed.

“I just mean… I still like girls, you know? I really liked El, I wasn’t pretending for that. I just… think I might like both.”

“Okay, Mike, that’s okay. What brought you to this conclusion? Is there some guy at school?”

Mike just stood there, trying to keep his breathing even.

“Mike, are you still there?” Will asked after a minute.

“Uh, yeah, I’m still here. And no, there’s no guy at school. I was just thinking about it, I don’t know. I thought if I was going to tell anyone, it would be you.”

“Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me that, Mike.”

“Yeah, thank you. I guess I should I go now.”

“Okay. You should call me tomorrow; we could talk more about this, if you want. I’ve learned a lot more about stuff like that since I’ve lived here, I might be able to answer any questions you have,” Will suggested.

“That would actually be nice, Will, thank you. I think I will call you tomorrow.”

“Alright, Mike. Goodnight then.”

“Goodnight,” Mike finished the call, quickly walking back to the kitchen and putting the phone onto the receiver.

Though it wasn’t even nine o’clock yet, Mike decided to go to bed after this. As glad as he was that he had come clean to Will about his feelings, it had drained him. He turned off the television set, and made his way up the stairs to his room. He changed into his pajamas, and moved to the bathroom to brush his teeth. He looked at his reflection for a few moments, thinking about his and Will’s phone call. As he climbed into his bed, he tried to think of anything else, but his mind kept wandering back to the call. Mike just hoped that their phone call tomorrow would be easier than the one tonight.

* * *

Mike couldn’t believe he had actually had the courage to tell Will that. But he was glad he did. Will had never judged him for asking silly questions, or saying things that maybe weren’t the smartest. Will had helped him a lot over the last couple months with coming to terms with his sexuality. Mike figured that knowing Robin had helped the both of them, and he was glad that he wasn’t as uncomfortable talking about it anymore. Although he still hadn’t come out to the rest of the party, and certainly hadn’t to anyone in his family, it was a start. It was enough for now.


	13. I Feel Shot Right Through with a Bolt of Blue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay this chapter is actually a little bit different! The first bit is going to be from Mike’s POV (and very third-person limited perspective like the rest of the fic so far), and then the rest will be from more of a third-person omniscient perspective. Hopefully this doesn’t throw you guys off too much, but I really wanted to include Will’s feelings for this chapter! Also, if you haven’t been listening to the mix while reading so far, I HIGHLY recommend listening to “Bizarre Love Triangle” by New Order (the song for this chapter) while reading. Or, if you don’t want to listen, at least skim through the lyrics! I think this song fits perfectly for Mike and Will, so check it out. Let me know what you think!

Mike didn’t recognize the next song that played, which surprised him, because he had immediately been able to pinpoint a memory, as insignificant as it may be, that he and Will had shared for each of the other songs. This made his listen more intently to both the lyrics and the underlying music. He really liked the bass in this song, and felt like the synth spoke to him. As the song continued, a strange feeling overcame Mike. He furrowed his brows as he listened to the lead singer’s words. The song almost seemed like a culmination of everything else he had heard so far on the tape. If he didn’t know better, it almost seemed like some kind of profession of unspoken feelings between the two of them. It wasn’t the first love song that Mike had heard that night, but for some reason it felt different to him.

As the song was almost over, it hit him like a ton of bricks.

_Oh my God, I think I’m in love with Will._ Mike thought to himself as he leapt from his bed, walking over to the cassette tape player, and shutting it off. It all made sense now: how weird Will had acted around him, why he was never fully honest with Mike when he asked him what was wrong, even that fucking REO Speedwagon song. These weren’t just memories he and Will had together, they were obviously Will telling Mike _how he had felt_ about all these events.

He paced around his room for a few minutes, unable to fully cope with his newfound realization. He really was in love with Will Byers. Mike didn’t know what to do with this. Should he tell Will? He wasn’t sure if that was the best course of action, as Will still lived three hours away in Chicago. It’s not like they would be able to pursue a real relationship together. But it didn’t seem right _not_ to tell Will that he felt the same way, if Will really did feel like that. Mike still wasn’t positive, he could have completely misread the signals from Will: not just the tape but every shared look, brush of hands, or laugh.

His thoughts raced as he rushed down the stairs, glad that the rest of his family had resigned to their rooms for the night by this point. He slipped on a pair of shoes and walked out of the front door, quietly shutting it behind him and hoping that his mother wasn’t able to hear him. Mike climbed onto his bike before racing to the Mayfield house. Will had told him earlier that day that he, along with Joyce and El, were staying at Max’s house while they were back in Hawkins for the week. Mind still going a mile a minute, he arrived at Max’s house nearly fifteen minutes later, thought it felt like hours had passed by the time he rolled up into the driveway.

Mike didn’t even bother to lean his bike on its kickstand, opting to just push it to the ground before jogging up to the front door. He was out of breath as he roughly knocked on the door, hands shaking as he waited for someone to answer, hoping it wouldn’t be Max’s mother. Mike didn’t think he had actually ever met her before, and didn’t think that showing up at her house past 9 p.m. was the best time for an introduction. He felt a wave of nerves wash over as him as he stood on the small porch. Mike had no idea what his game plan was, no matter who opened the front door. Eyes wide, he began pacing in small circles again, trying to figure out what he was going to do.

He didn’t even hear the creak of the front door opening until he heard a small, almost sleepy voice call to him.

“Mike? What are you doing here?” Will asked, stepping out onto the front porch with him. Mike stopped in his tracks, and turned around to face his friend.

“I’m sorry, did I wake anyone up?”

“No, it’s okay. Me, El and Max were just watching TV in the living room. What’s up?”

“Uh…” Mike could only stand there, staring. Will looked at him with a confused look.

“Is everything okay?” Will inquired again.

“Oh, uh, yeah. Everything is fine. I-I listened to your tape.”

“Ah…”

“Yeah.”

“And?”

“And it was really nice. Thank you Will.”

Will was a little confused by this. Did Mike not understand what he was trying to convey with the tape? Nonetheless, Will decided to invite Mike to come in the house. Mike either didn’t hear him, or just didn’t want to come in, because he didn’t respond.

“Mike?” Will repeated, trying to get his friend’s attention back.

“Sorry, I was just thinking…”

“About what?”

“About how bad I want to kiss you right now.”

Will wasn’t sure how to respond to that. He couldn’t believe that after all this time, all these pent-up feelings, Mike actually felt the same way. Will stood dumbfounded until Mike spoke again.

“You okay, Will?”

“Uh, yeah. Just a little shocked is all. I had no idea. I kind of thought you still had feelings for El.”

Mike chuckled lightly at that.

“Have you not paid any attention since you guys have been back? I’m pretty sure she and Max are dating or something now. Max hasn’t shut up about her since you guys left, and I’m pretty sure they were holding hands under the table at my party.”

Will laughed and shook his head.

“No, I guess I didn’t notice. I guess I’m glad though.”

“Yeah, you know that means I’m available then,” Mike attempted a seductive face, which made Will laugh even harder. Mike laughed too, then became somewhat serious again.

“Really, though, Will, I like you a lot. And I do want to kiss you.”

Will blushes and said with a newfound confidence, “Do it then.”

Mike looked down at him with wide eyes, and started to lean in. Will leaned in too, and their lips brushed softly for just a moment before they both pulled away. It was an awkward first kiss at best, but both boys blushed as they stared at each other.

“Wow,” Mike breathed out as he leaned back onto one leg.

“Yeah. Wow. That was…nice?”

“Mmhmm,” Mike hummed in response, “definitely. Would try again.”

Will leaned in again and gave a quick peck to Mike’s lips. They smiled widely at each other.

“Yep. Definitely better the second time,” Will grinned.

It wasn’t a hard decision for Mike and Will to decide they should start dating after that. They knew that a long-distance relationship would be hard, but Joyce promised that once Will turned sixteen the next February, he would be able to borrow the car and come back to Hawkins occasionally.

They spoke on the phone nearly every night once the Byers went back to Chicago, much to the dismay of anyone else in their houses that wanted to use the phone. Mike knew that it was almost gross how lovey-dovey he and Will were together, but really couldn’t bring myself to care. And even though he knew that neither of them could be public about their relationship until they were older, or out of Hawkins, he knew that he could handle that. With Will, Mike figured he could handle just about anything.

Crazy together, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I looked it up and technically the album that this song is on didn’t come out for another month after this story takes place, but it was just too perfect to change! Cut me some slack fellas. Did you recognize the callback to a couple chapters ago? Let me know if you did! Also, there may or may not be a bitchin’ epilogue following this chapter, so feel free to read that if you want ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


	14. I Reach Out from the Inside (Epilogue)

December 12th, 1986

“So you boys really don’t want to go to the Snow Ball?” Mrs. Wheeler asked Mike.

“No, we’re just going to hang out here for the night.”

“Okay, well if you need anything, I’ll be upstairs. Don’t get into any trouble.”

“We won’t, don’t worry.”

Mike led Will down to the basement, and they sat down on the couch together. He was incredibly happy to see his friends again, even if it had only been a few months. Just like Joyce had promised, they had all come back to Hawkins for the holidays, even coming back early enough that they could all go to the Hawkins High Winter Dance together. El had decided to go to the dance with the rest of the party ( _probably just to hang out with Max_ , Mike thought), but Mike and Will wanted to stay at the Wheeler house instead, hoping for a little privacy.

It had been nice doing the long-distance thing for the last few months, but neither of them wanted to risk being outed by going to the dance together. And even though Joyce knew they were dating, Mike hadn’t even told his mother yet, only trusting Nancy to keep their secret. The party understood, and figured they had the entirety of Christmas break to hang out before the Byers went back to Chicago.

They sat talking for a few minutes, catching up on anything that had forgotten to tell each other over the phone. Then, Mike decided to bring up the tape again.

“Hey, Will?” he asked, reaching for his boyfriend’s (which still felt so weird to say) hand.

“Mmhmm?” Will hummed.

“I just wanted to thank you again, for that mixtape you made me for my birthday. That’s gotta be like, the coolest and most thoughtful gift I’ve ever gotten.”

“I’m glad you liked it. It took ages to make.”

“Oh, I could tell. The tracks were absolutely perfect, man. And ending with the New Order song? Genius.”

“Wait, what?”

Figuring Will had just forgotten the order of songs he put on there, Mike replied, “Bizarre Love Triangle? That’s the last song on the tape.”

“Uh, Mike, that’s not the last song. You never finished the tape?”

“What, no way! I’ve listened to that tape like a thousand times since you gave it to me, I think I would know if there was another song on there.”

Will gave Mike an incredulous look.

“And what did you do at the end of the New Order song, Mike?”

“I-I turned the tape off… oh shit.”

“Michael Wheeler, I need you to go get your boombox right now. We are listening to the last song.”

“Alright, alright, _William Byers_. Hold on,” Mike said as he ran up the stairs two at a time. He went up to his bedroom as quickly as possible, lugging his cassette player off the dresser. It was heavy, and he kind of wished he had asked Will to come upstairs with him to help carry it. He moved as quickly as he could while carrying the large device back down to the basement. Mike set it down on one of the tables in the basement, and fumbled slightly as he turned it on, and the tape started to play. He extended his hand out to Will, who was still sitting on the couch.

“May I have this dance, good sir?”

“Oh, of course, my gentleman,” Will said, reaching out to grab Mike’s hand.

They began to sway slightly as they listened to the songs on the tape, recounting the memories they shared for the songs as they listened.

Finally, they got through the last song, and Mike waited to hear what this secret last song would be. He thought he might cry when it started. It was “In Your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel. Mike absolutely loved this song, and was floored that Will had picked it as the last song on his mixtape.

“Mike, are you okay?” Will asked him, worried Mike didn’t like the song.

“This song is perfect, Will. I’m so sorry I never listened to it before.”

“I’m almost glad you didn’t. I’m glad we get to listen to it together.”

They continued to slowly dance, their bodies close together.

Mike pressed his face into Will’s shoulder, mumbling something that Will couldn’t make out.

“What?” he asked. Mike lifted his head back up, looking into Will’s eyes.

“I… I love you,” Mike repeated himself, “I know we haven’t been dating that long and it’s okay if you don’t say it back but I-”

Will cut him off with a long kiss. He pulled away, smiling up at Mike.

“I love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, that's it guys! I hope you enjoyed reading this story, and if you want to see more Stranger Things content, feel free to follow me on Tumblr (with the same URL) Thank you!
> 
> P.S. I have to give a huge shoutout to my mom for this one, she helped me pick out some of the songs! <3


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